'I’m sorry for the things I have done'

After more than a year and a half without answers, Karinambande Muundjua (18) appeared in the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, accused of murdering Ingrid Maasdorp (5) and Roswinds Fabianu (7).“I’m sorry for the things I have done,” Muundjua reportedly told the court before he was denied bail.The matter has been postponed to 2 March 2027 for further investigation.A DNA match between evidence recovered after an alleged attempted rape on Saturday and evidence from the scene where Fabianu was killed has linked Muundjua to the unsolved murders, police said yesterday.Muundjua was arrested on 10 October after security guards allegedly caught him attempting to rape an eight-year-old girl at knifepoint in Nau-Aib, Okahandja. He appeared in court on Monday in connection with that incident.Muundjua faces multiple charges, including murder, rape, kidnapping and defeating the course of justice. The State opposed bail yesterday, arguing that he could repeat the alleged offences and that his release would not be in the public interest.Police on Wednesday said that forensic evidence had linked Muundjua to semen recovered from the scene where Fabianu was killed on 24 April 2025, five weeks after five-year-old Ingrid Maasdorp was found murdered on 21 March 2025.The development marks a significant turning point in an investigation that has drawn national outrage, sparked protests and left bereaved families demanding answers from authorities.Acting police chief Anne-Marie Nainda yesterday said Muundjua would be tried as an adult because he was 18 when arrested, although he was reportedly 16 when the earlier offences allegedly occurred.Police also confirmed on Wednesday that there had been no major breakthrough in the case of 15-year-old Beyoncé !Kharuxas, who was also found murdered in Okahandja around the same time as Maasdorp and Fabianu.Police said investigations into her murder were continuing but declined to disclose details that could compromise the investigation or prejudice potential court proceedings.“There has been no major breakthrough in the Beyoncé !Kharuxas case,” Nainda said.LawsuitMeanwhile, a N$2.2 million lawsuit brought by Maasdorp’s family alleges that Ingrid was kidnapped from K.W. von Maree Combined School and that education authorities failed to protect her.Documents filed in the High Court state that the morning Ingrid vanished began with a locked classroom, an absent teacher and two children waiting outside K.W. von Maree Combined School.Her 13-year-old uncle, Natangwe Maasdorp, says he accompanied Ingrid to school shortly after 07:00 on 20 March 2025 and left her with the two children before returning to the vehicle.Their grandfather then drove Natangwe and another family member to Aurora Primary School in the nearby Nau-Aib neighbourhood.When the family returned around noon to collect Ingrid, the school gates were locked and nobody was on the premises, the family claims.Relatives searched the school and hostel, where they showed staff members her photograph and asked whether anyone had seen her.Her grandmother, Dolly Maasdorp, says she repeatedly called Ingrid's class teacher without success before the family approached the police to report her missing.“The police officers were reluctant to take our report, stating that several hours must first pass before they can make a report of a missing person," she states in court documents.The search ended the following afternoon, 21 March 2025, when Ingrid's body was discovered in a tunnel beneath a bridge near the A1 road in the Veddersdal area of Okahandja.‘An aunty came to get Ingrid’Before Ingrid's body was discovered, a teacher reportedly approached Dolly at approximately 20:00 on the evening of her disappearance with information from a boy who had been in Ingrid's Grade 0 class.According to Dolly's affidavit, the boy told the teacher that Ingrid had been at school with him, but “an aunty came to get Ingrid”.He described the woman as tall and light-complexioned.The following day, the boy returned to the school with his parents and reportedly repeated his account in the presence of Dolly, police officers and teachers."He also mentioned that the woman who took Ingrid was wearing a bonnet by pointing to a bonnet that someone was wearing in the office. There were several police officers and teachers present," Dolly states.The boy also reportedly said he had asked Ingrid to play with him, but she declined.Dolly's affidavit also describes information she says was relayed to her by an investigating officer about two women who reportedly saw a child wearing a pink hoodie and school skirt walking behind the school hostel towards the A1 road at approximately 07:30.The child was allegedly accompanied by a slender person wearing a head covering, a hoodie and maroon tracksuit trousers.Dolly says the descriptions were broadly consistent with the classmate's account, although it has not been established whether the child seen by the women was Ingrid.She says she requested copies of their witness statements from the police but did not receive them.Government’s viewGovernment denies that Ingrid was abducted from the school premises or that education authorities were negligent.The State maintains that Ingrid never reported for school on 20 March 2025 and was not in its care.According to its defence, learners attended classes between 08:00 and 10:30 before being dismissed ahead of the Independence Day public holiday, but Ingrid was absent throughout that period.Government also argues that security guards stationed at the school were employed by a private contractor rather than the education ministry and denies that it can be held vicariously liable for their conduct.

'I’m sorry for the things I have done'

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-15

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'I’m sorry for the things I have done'

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-15

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