Congolese suspect escapes

By: DENVER KISTING

JUST as the police were opening a van after bringing suspects to the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday, a suspect from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) allegedly jumped out and ran away.

Levis da Silva Dabo was expected to appear in court on drug-related and kidnapping charges.
By the time of their court appearance, only his two co-accused were left in the dock.
Malesho Kabeya, also from the DRC, and Rudselia Boois, a Namibian woman, appeared before Magistrate Justine Asino.
Kabeya, who claimed that he had nothing to do with the N$183 900 worth of cocaine confiscated by the police, said he would appoint a private lawyer to defend his case.
Boois told the magistrate that she wanted to apply for a government-funded lawyer through the Directorate of Legal Aid. Public Prosecutor Taodago Gaweseb told Magistrate Asino that the State opposed  bail at this stage because there was a likelihood that the accused would abscond since one is a foreign national and because of the high value of the drugs confiscated.
Also, Gaweseb said, the investigation had not yet been finalised.
The case was postponed to January 23 next year.
On Sunday, Deputy Commissioner Silvanus Nghishidimbwa said that the police’s drug law enforcement unit had received information early on Saturday that a man had been kidnapped by alleged drug dealers.
The man was allegedly taken to the drug dealers’ flat where he was assaulted – allegedly by Dabo and Kabeya.
The two Congolese men allegedly threatened to kill the man, after which they left him alone at the flat.
Nghishidimbwa said the man then managed to escape and called the police.
The police later found one of the two male suspects at a guesthouse in Klein Windhoek with Boois – allegedly in possession of 26 ‘bullets’ of cocaine and 10 units of crack cocaine.
They were arrested at the scene while the other man was arrested elsewhere later.
Nghishidimbwa said yesterday afternoon that Dabo was still on the run.

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