Post-mortem examinations were carried out on the remains of Russian couple Svetlana Lobanova (44) and Andrei Pastouchkov (50) in Windhoek yesterday.

According to Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, Commanding Officer of the Police's Public Relations and Liaison Division, the autopsies established that Pastouchkov must have died instantly when his neck was severed with a deep cut wound.

Lobanova had several cut wounds over her body, and it is thought that she had died as a result of blood loss, Amulungu said.

Another source informed The Namibian that indications were that pangas were used.

Lobanova and Pastouchkov were found murdered on Tuesday at a smallholding where they lived north of Okahandja, near the turn-off of the C31 road to Hochfeld.

Pastouchkov was found in a chicken pen at the plot, while Lobanova was found in a blood-smeared room in a house at the plot.

It is suspected that they had been killed on Friday evening already.

The couple had been employing two workers.

The employees were not at the plot when the couple was found dead, though, Amulungu said.

Namibian Police detectives were still trying to track down a possible suspect in the case yesterday evening.

MOTIVE Amulungu said it was suspected that the couple had also been robbed.

An unknown amount of money in cash and items such as jewellery are missing from the couple's home, he said.

Lobanova and Pastouchkov had lived in Namibia for some eight years, Dr Andrey Yakovlev, the Third Secretary at the Russian Embassy in Windhoek and the personal assistant to the Russian Ambassador in Namibia, told The Namibian yesterday.

He said according to information given to the Embassy, Lobanova and Pastouchkov got married in Russia about two years ago.

They had moved to Okahandja after living in Windhoek for some two years, and were farming with poultry at the smallholding where they were killed, Yakovlev said.

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