How murder suspects escaped from school hostel

A Ministry of Education probe into how schoolchildren managed to break out of their Keetmanshoop hostel and go on an alleged robbery and murder spree, has found that they climbed through windows before jumping onto a first-floor roof. The probe also found that the JA Nel Secondary School hostel, like most others in Namibia, had been built to keep intruders out and not to keep children inside. According to Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary Alfred Ilukena the preliminary investigation found that there was no negligence on the part of the hostel supervisors. The investigation was ordered by the ministry after the parents of the arrested boys questioned the supervision at the hostel. Stephanus Kapuka, 18, Valentinus Brandt, 18, Hercules Orum, 18, and Matias Motinga, 18, as well as four minors who may not be identified, were arrested for three murders and two robberies committed at the town last year. Ilukena told Namibian Sun the ministry’s investigation had focused on how the boys were able to get out of the hostel and whether this was due to negligence. It was established that the boys snuck out from the second floor of the hostel by climbing through windows. Ilukena said the windows on the second floor do not have burglar bars and that the boys were able to climb out and then jump onto the roof of the first floor. He said it would have been very difficult to detect that the boys were missing, as it seems that they snuck out after “lights out” when everyone was asleep. “There was no negligence on the part of the supervisors,” said Ilukena. “Everything was done as it should have been. The systems were violated, but they were intact.” He added that when the hostel was built there was no need to put burglar bars on the second-floor windows. According to him, the aim was to keep people out of the hostel, not to keep people in. “Now we realise if people want to misbehave and sneak out they will find a way.” According to him the ministry will continue to investigate how to improve safety at the hostel and the possibility of putting up extra burglar bars. He said he cannot elaborate on the recommendations at this stage. The ministry is continuing with the investigation to establish other factors involved, such as if the learners snuck out over weekends or during off-weekends and what should be done to prevent it. It is alleged that the boys and another suspect Pieter Kennedy, 41, murdered 24-year-old Namibia Institute for Mining Technology (NIMT) student Mika Johannes, whose body was found with a stab wound to the chest on September 6 last year. The schoolboys are also accused of the murder of Augustinus Joseph, 46, whose body was found with a single stab wound to the chest between Tseiblaagte and Krönlein last year. Joseph had been robbed of his cellphone before he was stabbed to death. The boys are also implicated in the murder of Helmut Isaaks, who died of head injuries after an assault on October 18. He died at his home in bed the next morning and his phone had been stolen. The learners appeared again in the Keetmanshoop Magistrate’s Court last week and their case was postponed until March 26 for further investigations, where after the docket will be forwarded to the Office of the Prosecutor-General for a decision.