Nine inmates, officer injured in jail clash

Nine inmates and a police officer were injured during a police raid at the Oshakati Police Station last week.

During the raid last Tuesday, the police confiscated 18 cellphones, 15 bales of dagga and a knife, Oshana police regional commander, Commissioner Naftal Lungameni Sakaria, confirmed.

When inmates smuggle in contraband, they refuse to be searched, he said, adding that the Special Reserve Force was brought in to assist the police after they were attacked by inmates.

“We have an officer who has been terribly injured in the process and was rushed to hospital. The space is confined and the only way the police could protect themselves as the prisoners closed in on them was to use rubber bullets.

“The inmates want to make the cells a no-go area for the police, but that cannot be tolerated,” Sakaria, who assumed his duties as regional commander just a week ago, said.

After last week’s clashes, the search was called off and was only successfully completed yesterday. He said he then accompanied the station commander and gave a stern warning to inmates that the Oshana Region would not be made an unruly place for trial-awaiting prisoners.

‘Everything turned chaotic’

Among those injured is Edward Haihambo (34), who stands accused of the murder of his girlfriend Lucillia Bunita Quimbra (30) - in full view of her four children, aged one, three, six and 10 at the time - in 2019.

Haihambo yesterday narrated that around 09:00, the police instructed them to go to the hangar for a search to take place.

“We obliged. But we noticed they had come with the Special Reserve Force unit. After some time of searching, they found something in cell 10. They did not inform us what it was, but they got into a confrontation with those who live in that cell.”

During the clash, the Special Reserve Force members started shooting and everything turned chaotic, he said.

“I was running from the hangar to find shielding when felt a bullet hit my arm. Nine of us were injured in the process. The police decided to take us to the hospital.”

He was discharged from Oshakati State Hospital after a few days and taken back to the cells, but returned to the hospital for a follow-up appointment on Monday.

Medical reports seen by this publication show that Haihaimbo sustained fractures to his left hand and other bruises to his buttocks.

Other inmates – who prefer to remain anonymous - said this is not the first time the police have used force on them. They further accused police officers of threatening them with 9mm pistols.

Asked to leave

Namibian Sun visited Haihambo at the police station during visiting hours on Friday, but was asked to leave.

The police demanded that he only receive visits from the media in the presence of his lawyer Pombili Shipila, or with permission from station commander, Chief Inspector Allo Matheus.

Haihambo’s case was withdrawn on 3 March 2021 to allow the State to make necessary arrangements for the matter to be transferred to Oshakati High Court, court records show.

Namibian Sun reported on his release last year, and he was rearrested the same day, 9 June 2021.

He was set to appear in court the following day, but this did not happen. Shipila brought forward an application to for his client to be released from custody while waiting trial.

Haihambo was in the Oshakati High Court yesterday, where judge Johanna Salionga informed the court that she was recusing herself from his case due to personal reasons. The matter was postponed to 14 October. The State was represented by Victoria Shigwedha.

‘Anticipatory punishment’

The inmate’s family and lawyer are worried that he has become a target for “unruly officers” who are hell-bent on “breaking the law before upholding it”.

Haihambo added that he has not been successful in opening a case against the police for the brutality he suffered at their hands, and that he had previously been injured during a cell raid last year.

Shipila said his client’s family are worried that the police have a “gripe” against him for various reasons.

“They are administering what we call anticipatory punishment even before any court has pronounced itself in any of Eddy's cases.

“He is being punished even when he has not been found guilty. They [family] are worried that the increasingly hostile brutality of the police may result in Eddy's extrajudicial killing,” he stressed.

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