Lieutenant General Sebastian Ndeitunga.
NO POLICE officer will be suspended pending an internal investigation into the death of Fortuna Tenete (4) who was detained together with his mother at the Wanaheda Police Station.
This was the statement made by Lieutenant General Sebastian Ndeitunga, the Inspector General of the Police yesterday.
Ndeitunga’s response comes after he was asked whether any police officer attached to the Wanaheda Police Station, would be suspended to allow for a smooth internal probe to be conducted into the murder that has shocked Namibians from all walks of life.
“What I can say is that everything is being investigated. Only [the] investigation will tell us whether someone will be apportioned blame,” he said.
According to him, progress has already been made [in the case] with the arrest of the suspect, Loise Kaambu (33). “The person to be arrested is the one who killed the child, not a police officer.”
Ndeitunga admitted that there were no proper facilities for inmates’ children in the holding cells. “This woman (Kaarina Mateus, Fortuna’s mother) was detained legally. She decided to go with her son. The police did not force her. What should the police do? [There is] no shelter for children.”
When he was asked whether the incident is not an indictment on the police, Ndeitunga hung up the phone.
According to the post-mortem report, which was seen by The Namibian yesterday morning, Fortuna died as a result of “severe head trauma [caused by] “blunt force impact”.
The boy died last Thursday after Kaambu allegedly grabbed him by the feet and smashed his head onto the cell floor where they were detained.
Kaambu and Mateus had been involved in an altercation earlier on Thursday.
According to Mateus, the fight erupted after she had allegedly seen a yoghurt container with tea deserted on the cell floor.
She took the tea and gave Fortuna to drink when Kaambu allegedly claimed it was hers and wanted to know why Mateus wanted to infect her with bacteria.
Fortuna will be buried at Ondangwa tomorrow.
Mateus has already said she wants to sue the Ministry of Safety and Security in connection with her son’s death.
She has instructed the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) to represent her during the proposed legal action.
Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi, police spokesperson, yesterday afternoon said that there are no children left in the Wanaheda police holding cells.
Following Fortuna’s death, two Zimbabwean women and their two children were deported to Zimbabwe, while the child of another Zimbabwean woman, who remains in custody, has been placed with its Namibian father.
At the time of the tragedy, there were four children in the police holding cells at Wanaheda.
Kanguatjivi could not say how many children are being detained with their mothers elsewhere in the country, other than that there are none in the Omaheke and Kunene Regions.