Murdered Unam student buried today

JOHANNES Shapange, a third-year University of Namibia (Unam) student who was stabbed to death by a fellow student at the university’s hostel in Windhoek last week, will be buried today.

The funeral will take place in the northern village of Eembahu near Eenhana in the Ohangwena Region. Shapange died on arrival at the Roman Catholic Hospital on Thursday after sustaining 14 stab wounds. The suspect is a second-year law student with a reported psychiatric problem. The two students lived in the same wing of the hostel.’A total of 35 students from Unam have left to attend the funeral. They are accompanied by Student Representative Council (SRC) members and will be returning back to Windhoek shortly after the funeral,’ said one Unam student. A memorial service was held on the Unam main campus on Saturday and is said to have been well attended.’The family of the suspect also came to pay their respects and condolences to the bereaved family at the memorial service,’ said the student source.Details about what led to the attack remain sketchy, with some students alleging that the suspect had been accusing Shapange of witchcraft.’He told me and two of my friends that he couldn’t get an erection, that he experienced memory loss and back pain and my friends and I prayed for him. We believed there was a demonic spirit at work in him,’ said one of the suspect’s friends. It was initially reported that the suspect went to class after stabbing Shapange, but this version was disputed by Independence Security Services, the security company guarding the university campus.Independence Security said the suspect was arrested at the crime scene and handcuffed before the Police arrived.According to Unam spokesman Edwin Tjiramba, the university was aware that the suspect had psychiatric problems. ‘The university was aware the suspect had psychiatric problems and investigators are currently busy compiling a report for the vice chancellor on that. What happened truly left us as a university community absolutely speechless,’ he said. A total of 1 080 students live in the Unam campus hostels. The university management could not say how many other students on campus suffer from emotional problems. Asked what programmes and services the university has for students with psychiatric problems, the assistant dean for professional services at Unam, Margareth Mainga, said the university has a clinic where professional services are rendered to students. ‘We have a professional services section with psychologists and social workers. We offer services ranging from alcohol and trauma counselling and many other events such as this one,’ she said.’As human beings, so many of us are experiencing problems in many aspects of life. Not always does one come and report that they suffer from a certain condition. Sometimes it’s different situations that trigger incidents like this one,’ said Mainga.Mainga says students traumatised by the incident are getting counselling.The suspect remains under psychiatric observation.