The day ‘Ninja’ and his captors ducked a suicidal soldier’s bullets

Police commissioner Nelius Becker has narrated how his forces, who had just rearrested former notorious gang member Paulus ‘Ninja’ Shimweefeleni, had to duck bullets of a soldier who arrived at the scene from elsewhere and ended up taking his own life after a brief exchange of fire with Becker’s team.

Becker is known, among other accolades, as the officer who arrested Shimweefeleni – then a feared member of the notorious 'Rooi Oog Bende' [Red Eye Gang] which terrorised Windhoek in the 1990s.

Initially sentenced to life in prison, Shimweefeleni walked out of the Windhoek Correctional Facility as a free man yesterday, after 25 years of incarceration. He was granted parole for good behaviour, prison authorities said.

He was originally sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999 for the 1997 murder of a taxi driver.

He got an additional 22-year jail sentence for robbery with aggravating circumstances and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

A scuffle and a shootout

Becker, who now heads the Namibian Police Forensic Science Institute, yesterday said he was happy that Shimweefeleni (52) has been rehabilitated, earning him release from jail.

He relayed to Namibian Sun the events that unfolded on the day of Shimweefeleni’s rearrest, after he had escaped from jail. He and his fellow gang members hijacked a taxi, and told the driver to take them to Grootfontein. The driver refused and, after a scuffle which included an attempt to flee, he was shot and killed.

The group was rearrested the next day, some 60 kilometres from Opuwo in the Kunene Region.

Becker said: “When [Shimweefeleni] was arrested, he was fleeing at that stage. He was arrested and he was brought down to the Windhoek roadblock. We were waiting for the people who were transporting him in order to take him back to prison, but I can't remember if it was on the original charges or the escaping charge”.

Soon after putting the gang members in Becker’s police vehicle, a member of the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) arrived at the scene.

“I remember that, right at that moment after we loaded [Shimweefeleni] into my vehicle, there was a member of the NDF who started firing shots at the [military] base in Okahandja and he was on his way to the roadblock.”

“So, while we are standing there, this guy drove through the roadblock and we started giving chase... with Ninja in the back of the car. He will remember that story very well. The NDF guy then started shooting at us from the NDF car and eventually there was some sort of shootout between us. He ended up shooting himself.

“Ninja was in the police car and had to duck and dive because this guy was firing at us.”

'True man'

On Shimweefeleni’s release, Becker commented: "I am happy to see that he has been released; hopefully he can now inspire others and speak about the consequences of crime”.

After his release from jail yesterday, Shimweefeleni – who previously went public with his HIV-positive status – told reporters: “I want to go and sit with my family and I want to thank the correctional facility, they have rehabilitated me”.

“I am a true man now. If I could be the same person I was in the past, I would not call myself a man [then] because men take responsibility. And they don't only put their eyes on benefit, they also look at the consequences.”

He acquired plumbing skills while in jail and hopes to delve into this trade now that he is free.

“My plumbing business has been registered for nine years now, so it’s just for me to go and continue. If you have a problem with water, call me.”