Crash claims life of NamPol veteran

THE Namibian Police’s Serious Crime Unit suffered its third leadership loss in a little over a year and a half on Saturday, when its acting Unit Commander, Chief Inspector Manfred Sass, died from injuries he sustained in a car accident a week earlier.

Sass, a career policeman for the past 29 years, died in the Roman Catholic Hospital in Windhoek on Saturday morning. He was 48.Injuries he sustained in a head-on collision with another vehicle in Windhoek on April 30 proved insurmountable after he managed to fight for survival for a week after the accident.Sass “was a dedicated and hardworking member”, the Commanding Officer of the Police’s Public Relations and Liaison Division, Chief Inspector Hieronymus Goraseb, said yesterday.”The Namibian Police have lost a highly capable and experienced officer – his contributions in crime detection will be greatly missed,” he said.Sass and Police colleagues were following up a lead in connection with the theft of a vehicle of the Serious Crime Unit when the deadly accident happened in the early hours of last Sunday.They were driving along Hendrik Witbooi Drive in Windhoek when an oncoming vehicle slammed into the car driven by Sass.He suffered several bone fractures as well as internal injuries, which ultimately proved fatal.The driver of the other vehicle was arrested some four hours after the accident, Goraseb said.He has been charged with reckless and negligent driving and also with drunken driving.Following Sass’s death, the first charge is set to be changed to culpable homicide, Goraseb said.Sass, who has held the rank of Chief Inspector since March 2000, was the acting Unit Commander of the Serious Crime Unit at the time of his death.He also held that post last year, when the then Serious Crime Unit Commander, Oscar Sheehama, was temporarily suspended in the wake of the death of businessman Lazarus Kandara while in Police custody.Sass was born at Swakopmund in 1958 and attended school at the coastal town.After completing his school education, he joined the Police.He received his first training in Pretoria, South Africa, where he then lived for close to ten years, with seven of those spent working as a medical assistant at the South African Police’s Pretoria Mortuary.After his return to Namibia in 1986, he was first stationed at Maltahoehe, before he took up a post as medical assistant at the Police Mortuary in Windhoek for more than six years.Sass later became the Unit Commander of the Police Mortuary – a post he held for another seven years.He was thereafter appointed Unit Commander of the Police’s Motor Vehicle Theft Unit in Windhoek for three and a half years, before he moved to the Police’s National Headquarters to take up a post as Staff Officer for the Motor Vehicle Theft Unit.This was followed by a move to the Criminal Investigation Department, also as a Staff Officer, before he was appointed to what was to be his last post at the Serious Crime Unit.Sass is the third head of the Serious Crime Unit whose services have been lost by the Police in the past year and a half.His immediate predecessor, Sheehama, resigned from the Police with effect from the end of March.Before him, the long-serving previous Unit Commander, ace detective Nelius Becker – who was Sass’s brother-in-law – resigned from the Police at the end of October 2004.Sass had three children – sons aged 25, 23 and 20.He was 48.Injuries he sustained in a head-on collision with another vehicle in Windhoek on April 30 proved insurmountable after he managed to fight for survival for a week after the accident.Sass “was a dedicated and hardworking member”, the Commanding Officer of the Police’s Public Relations and Liaison Division, Chief Inspector Hieronymus Goraseb, said yesterday. “The Namibian Police have lost a highly capable and experienced officer – his contributions in crime detection will be greatly missed,” he said.Sass and Police colleagues were following up a lead in connection with the theft of a vehicle of the Serious Crime Unit when the deadly accident happened in the early hours of last Sunday.They were driving along Hendrik Witbooi Drive in Windhoek when an oncoming vehicle slammed into the car driven by Sass.He suffered several bone fractures as well as internal injuries, which ultimately proved fatal.The driver of the other vehicle was arrested some four hours after the accident, Goraseb said.He has been charged with reckless and negligent driving and also with drunken driving.Following Sass’s death, the first charge is set to be changed to culpable homicide, Goraseb said.Sass, who has held the rank of Chief Inspector since March 2000, was the acting Unit Commander of the Serious Crime Unit at the time of his death.He also held that post last year, when the then Serious Crime Unit Commander, Oscar Sheehama, was temporarily suspended in the wake of the death of businessman Lazarus Kandara while in Police custody.Sass was born at Swakopmund in 1958 and attended school at the coastal town.After completing his school education, he joined the Police.He received his first training in Pretoria, South Africa, where he then lived for close to ten years, with seven of those spent working as a medical assistant at the South African Police’s Pretoria Mortuary.After his return to Namibia in 1986, he was first stationed at Maltahoehe, before he took up a post as medical assistant at the Police Mortuary in Windhoek for more than six years.Sass later became the Unit Commander of the Police Mortuary – a post he held for another seven years.He was thereafter appointed Unit Commander of the Police’s Motor Vehicle Theft Unit in Windhoek for three and a half years, before he moved to the Police’s National Headquarters to take up a post as Staff Officer for the Motor Vehicle Theft Unit.This was followed by a move to the Criminal Investigation Department, also as a Staff Officer, before he was appointed to what was to be his last post at the Serious Crime Unit.Sass is the third head of the Serious Crime Unit whose services have been lost by the Police in the past year and a half.His immediate predecessor, Sheehama, resigned from the Police with effect from the end of March.Before him, the long-serving previous Unit Commander, ace detective Nelius Becker – who was Sass’s brother-in-law – resigned from the Police at the end of October 2004.Sass had three children – sons aged 25, 23 and 20.