Butchered woman ID’d

TWO severed human legs were discovered at Grootfontein on Saturday – a day after the person whose head and arms were found at the town on Monday last week was identified as 30-year-old Jacoba Olivier.

Jacoba Olivier, also known as Wilma, was born at Gochas in the Hardap Region on November 9 1976, the Namibian Police’s Public Relations and Liaison Division announced on Friday, after Olivier’s mother had identified her partial remains at the Police Mortuary in Windhoek. SINGLE MOTHER Olivier was born and grew up at Gochas.She was a single mother who had a son, aged ten, who lives with Olivier’s mother, an informed Police source told The Namibian yesterday.Olivier’s mother, Martha Olivier, lives on a farm in the Kalk area southeast of Mariental, The Namibian was told.She last saw her daughter about four years ago.Police detectives investigating Olivier’s death – and also the deaths of four other women who have been found dead in the Windhoek and Rehoboth areas over the past two years – now face the challenge of establishing where Olivier had been staying and how she had been making a living in the intervening years before her death.Olivier’s head and forearms, as well as blood-stained car seat covers, a blood-stained woman’s nightdress and a black bra, were found in a black plastic refuse bag near the Grootfontein State Hospital on Monday morning last week.GRUESOME FIND On Saturday evening between 18h00 and 19h00, a pair of human legs – each cut into two sections – that are thought to be part of Olivier’s remains were discovered at a lay-by near the southern edge of Grootfontein, the Police announced yesterday.According to Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, the Commanding Officer of the Police’s Public Relations and Liaison Division, two school students who were coming from a Matric farewell party made the discovery.They found the legs wrapped in blankets in black refuse bags about 100 to 200 metres from the turn-off to Tsumeb on the Grootfontein-Otavi road.”The thighs were separated from the lower legs at the knees and both of them were already in a decomposing state,” Amulungu said.Police Deputy Commissioner Hophni Hamufungu added yesterday that the legs were found at a lay-by near the junction of the Tsumeb and Otavi-Grootfontein roads.He said it would seem that the legs had been left at the spot at about the same time that the head and forearms were dumped inside Grootfontein itself.Amulungu said Police secured the scene on Saturday evening and the legs were removed from there yesterday and transported to the Police Mortuary in Windhoek.He added that in the opinion of the Director of the National Forensic Science Institute of Namibia, Paul Ludik, the legs are part of the remains of the late Jacoba Olivier.LINKED? Hamufungu said all the Police could be certain of at this stage was that there appeared to be links between the death of Olivier and those of other women whose deaths remain under investigation by the Police.If the same person has been responsible for all these deaths it is not yet possible to state with certainty whether it is a Namibian, or a foreign visitor to the country, or whether the person is even living permanently in the country or not, he said.Amulungu in turn stated: “We will do everything in our power and employ all the means at our disposal to track down the murderer(s) and ensure that they account for their horrific and cruel misdeeds.”ALL FROM SOUTH Among the similarities between Olivier and some of the other suspected murder victims whose deaths remain under investigation, is the fact that like Olivier, two of the other apparently murdered women came from towns in southern Namibia.Also like Olivier, these two had been decapitated before their remains were dumped next to a road.All three women were also single mothers.The headless body of former Mariental resident Juanita Mabula was found next to the Western Bypass road near the Windhoek Turf Club on September 25 2005.Mabula’s head was discovered on October 24 2005 – lying next to the B1 road between Windhoek and Rehoboth.Former Kalkrand resident Sanna Helena Garoës’s dissected torso was found in a rubbish bin next to the B1 road between Windhoek and Okahandja on June 17 this year.Her thighs were found in a rubbish bin next to the B1 road between Windhoek and Rehoboth three days later.Her head, lower legs and feet – with the middle three toes of each foot apparently cut off – were found next to the B6 road some 35 km east of Windhoek on July 11.Amulungu repeated a call for public assistance with the investigation of the deaths of Olivier, Mabula and Garoës.He specifically asked anyone with information on the recent whereabouts and activities of Olivier to contact the Police by phoning (061) 209 4414 (office hours) or 081 127 5510 all hours, or by phoning Deputy Commissioner Marius Visser at 081 127 2380, or Chief Inspector Jan Blaauw at (067) 223 5007 or 081 128 7340.SINGLE MOTHER Olivier was born and grew up at Gochas.She was a single mother who had a son, aged ten, who lives with Olivier’s mother, an informed Police source told The Namibian yesterday.Olivier’s mother, Martha Olivier, lives on a farm in the Kalk area southeast of Mariental, The Namibian was told.She last saw her daughter about four years ago.Police detectives investigating Olivier’s death – and also the deaths of four other women who have been found dead in the Windhoek and Rehoboth areas over the past two years – now face the challenge of establishing where Olivier had been staying and how she had been making a living in the intervening years before her death. Olivier’s head and forearms, as well as blood-stained car seat covers, a blood-stained woman’s nightdress and a black bra, were found in a black plastic refuse bag near the Grootfontein State Hospital on Monday morning last week.GRUESOME FIND On Saturday evening between 18h00 and 19h00, a pair of human legs – each cut into two sections – that are thought to be part of Olivier’s remains were discovered at a lay-by near the southern edge of Grootfontein, the Police announced yesterday.According to Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, the Commanding Officer of the Police’s Public Relations and Liaison Division, two school students who were coming from a Matric farewell party made the discovery.They found the legs wrapped in blankets in black refuse bags about 100 to 200 metres from the turn-off to Tsumeb on the Grootfontein-Otavi road.”The thighs were separated from the lower legs at the knees and both of them were already in a decomposing state,” Amulungu said.Police Deputy Commissioner Hophni Hamufungu added yesterday that the legs were found at a lay-by near the junction of the Tsumeb and Otavi-Grootfontein roads.He said it would seem that the legs had been left at the spot at about the same time that the head and forearms were dumped inside Grootfontein itself.Amulungu said Police secured the scene on Saturday evening and the legs were removed from there yesterday and transported to the Police Mortuary in Windhoek.He added that in the opinion of the Director of the National Forensic Science Institute of Namibia, Paul Ludik, the legs are part of the remains of the late Jacoba Olivier.LINKED? Hamufungu said all the Police could be certain of at this stage was that there appeared to be links between the death of Olivier and those of other women whose deaths remain under investigation by the Police.If the same person has been responsible for all these deaths it is not yet possible to state with certainty whether it is a Namibian, or a foreign visitor to the country, or whether the person is even living permanently in the country or not, he said.Amulungu in turn stated: “We will do everything in our power and employ all the means at our disposal to track down the murderer(s) and ensure that they account for their horrific and cruel misdeeds.”ALL FROM SOUTH Among the similarities between Olivier and some of the other suspected murder victims whose deaths remain under investigation, is the fact that like Olivier, two of the other apparently murdered women came from towns in southern Namibia.Also like Olivier, these two had been decapitated before their remains were dumped next to a road.All three women were also single mothers.The headless body of former Mariental resident Juanita Mabula was found next to the Western Bypass road near the Windhoek Turf Club on September 25 2005.Mabula’s head was discovered on October 24 2005 – lying next to the B1 road between Windhoek and Rehoboth.Former Kalkrand resident Sanna Helena Garoës’s dissected torso was found in a rubbish bin next to the B1 road between Windhoek and Okahandja on June 17 this year.Her thighs were found in a rubbish bin next to the B1 road between Windhoek and Rehoboth three days later.Her head, lower legs and feet – with the middle three toes of each foot apparently cut off – were found next to the B6 road some 35 km east of Windhoek on July 11.Amulungu repeated a call for public assistance with the investigation of the deaths of Olivier, Mabula and Garoës.He specifically asked anyone with information on the recent whereabouts and activities of Olivier to contact the Police by phoning (061) 209 4414 (office hours) or 081 127 5510 all hours, or by phoning Deputy Commissioner Marius Visser at 081 127 2380, or Chief Inspector Jan Blaauw at (067) 223 5007 or 081 128 7340.