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Thursday, March 1, 2001 - Web posted at 7:35:52 AM GMT Young boy in room at time of shooting THE youngest of the three children orphaned at Swakopmund this week was present when their father shot their mother and then himself. Five-year-old Phillip Philemon was sleeping in his parents' bedroom when his father, Petrus (47), ended his wife's and his own life at around 05h30 on Tuesday. According to Anna Ruben, who lives with the family and looks after the children, Hilde, the mother, was calling for her from the room just before the incident. Ruben went to the room but the door was locked. Shortly afterwards she heard shots being fired. Little Phillip then came out of the room saying "our father is dead". The other two children, Hendrik (7) and Josephine (10), were with Ruben. Ruben immediately ran to the neighbours who called the police and Hilde's younger sister, Selma Mukunda, who also lives at Swakopmund. Mukunda told The Namibian yesterday that the news came as a big shock. "It felt like I was having a really bad nightmare when I heard the news." " She said the family were puzzled by Petrus's actions. Yesterday it seemed as if little Phillip had not yet realised what he had witnessed, Mukunda said. No decision has been taken on the future of the children and who will look after them. Relatives from both sides of the family live at Swakopmund, including Hilde's mother." "I think we will all have to come together to decide who is going to take responsibility for the children," Mukunda said. Hendrik is in Grade 1 at the Vrede Rede Primary School at Mondesa and Josephine in Grade 5 at the Swakopmund Primary School at Vineta. NamPol's Warrant Officer Moritz Naruseb said yesterday that the investigation into the shooting would take about two weeks to conclude. |
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