Former Robben Island prisoner murdered

ONE of Namibia’s Robben Island prisoners was killed at his farm last week in a shooting that friends likened to the 1966 gun battle with apartheid soldiers, from which he and his comrades emerged alive.

Fillemon Ismael Shitilifa, aged 65, died when a stranger shot him between the eyes with a pistol on farm Nevade, Camp 13, some 15 km north of Otjiwarongo. The incident took place at 19h00 on Thursday.He went down fighting, as happened when he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment nearly four decades ago.Police spokesman, Warrant Officer Christopher Munyika, said the suspected murderer, Shipingana Adelino Ndemufakoshi (35), was wandering around on Shitilifa’s farm on Thursday afternoon when the former Robben Island prisoner and his family tracked his footsteps.Ndemufakoshi claimed he had come to look for water.After he was given water he pretended to leave the farm, but the people there later discovered that he had remained on the property.Shitilifa and his grandchildren offered to escort the man to the road but, as it was getting dark, Shitilifa asked that two children go to a nearby farm to ask for a lift for the suspect to Otjiwarongo.Helao Shityuwete, a fellow Robben Island inmate, said eyewitnesses had recounted that the killer appeared to have become agitated that he was being escorted off the farm and refused to go to Otjiwarongo.An argument ensued, according to the Police, and the suspect, who seemed to have discovered that Shitilifa had a pistol tucked under his shirt, pulled it out and fired at the former soldier in the face.One of the children who was with the two told the Police that he heard three shots.But only one shot struck Shitilifa, said Munyika.Shityuwete said it appeared that by the time the attacker shot Shitilifa, the liberation war fighter had fired off a shot himself, wounding Ndemufakoshi.Ndemufakoshi was arrested the following afternoon, after Police tracked a blood trail.He appeared in court this week, said Munyika, but the motive of the attack was not yet clear.The incident took place at 19h00 on Thursday.He went down fighting, as happened when he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment nearly four decades ago.Police spokesman, Warrant Officer Christopher Munyika, said the suspected murderer, Shipingana Adelino Ndemufakoshi (35), was wandering around on Shitilifa’s farm on Thursday afternoon when the former Robben Island prisoner and his family tracked his footsteps.Ndemufakoshi claimed he had come to look for water.After he was given water he pretended to leave the farm, but the people there later discovered that he had remained on the property.Shitilifa and his grandchildren offered to escort the man to the road but, as it was getting dark, Shitilifa asked that two children go to a nearby farm to ask for a lift for the suspect to Otjiwarongo.Helao Shityuwete, a fellow Robben Island inmate, said eyewitnesses had recounted that the killer appeared to have become agitated that he was being escorted off the farm and refused to go to Otjiwarongo.An argument ensued, according to the Police, and the suspect, who seemed to have discovered that Shitilifa had a pistol tucked under his shirt, pulled it out and fired at the former soldier in the face.One of the children who was with the two told the Police that he heard three shots.But only one shot struck Shitilifa, said Munyika.Shityuwete said it appeared that by the time the attacker shot Shitilifa, the liberation war fighter had fired off a shot himself, wounding Ndemufakoshi.Ndemufakoshi was arrested the following afternoon, after Police tracked a blood trail.He appeared in court this week, said Munyika, but the motive of the attack was not yet clear.