Oshana mom wants justice after father allegedly beats daughter Mia to death

The mother of a girl (5) who allegedly died in the care of her father at Ongwediva after being abused and beaten, says she wants the man to rot in jail.

Maceline Cloete (21) is still struggling to come to terms with the death of her firstborn child, Mia Nghishihange, at Ongwediva in the Oshana region on 24 February.

Mia died while nurses were busy attending to her at the local hospital’s casualty department, after her father rushed her there.

She had wounds all over her body and an open wound to the head.

Mia was a Grade 1 pupil at Oshana Gymnasium Private School at Ongwediva.

She has been in the care of her father, Martin Nghishihange (23), who has been a forex trader since 2020.
Cloete says she is living in anguish as she mourns her daughter.

“I want him to rot in jail. I don’t want to see his face again,” she says.
“I am shattered.

I do not sleep. I feel like I’m going crazy. My life is no longer the same. Why did he kill my child? What did she do to deserve such cruelty from the father? Why her?”

Cloete says she was supposed to travel to the north to see Mia on the weekend she died, but Nghishihange did not respond to her
She says the last time she saw Mia was in 2024.

She believed Mia was in proper care, she says.
“Mia has been living with her father since 2020.

She just went to visit her father one weekend and never came back.

He has been fighting for the child, and every time I try to get her for the holidays, he would fight for the child.

“The week before, I had a video call with her and she seemed happy to see my face. Every time we spoke on the phone, she would ask me ‘Momma, when are you coming to visit me?’.

“I truly thought she was in good care and I never bothered, because I wanted to maintain a good relationship with the father and the entire family,” she says.

Cloete claims that Nghishihange has been physically abusing Mia, with the abuse getting worse last October.
“Mia was a shy and quiet girl.

So, he [Nghishihange] would always beat the child and force her to speak with people, saying he is disciplining her.

She was badly abused because she had an open wound in the head.

“She had deep scars on the buttocks as well,” she says.
Cloete says Mia enjoyed playing with her dolls alone.
“She was a loner.

Mia was full of discipline and hardly played with other children.

She was a sweet girl and was fluent in Oshiwambo.

“We never really spoke, because she was just starting to learn how to speak English and I speak English and Afrikaans.

She liked sweets and wearing pink clothes. I will always miss my girl.

I don’t think I will ever be okay without her.”

Cloete says she was never on bad terms with Nghishihange even though the two had long been separated.

“We were co-parenting well and we were not on bad terms.

I would often call him to check up on Mia and I thought all was well. I am angry at him.
“I want him to rot in jail.

He killed my child. I don’t want him to be granted bail. He must pay for what he did to the child,” she says.
Mia was buried at Rehoboth on Saturday.

Nghishihange has been arrested and has appeared in the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court on Monday, where he is facing a charge of murder.

He is remanded in custody until his next court appearance on 2 July.

Nghishihange was arrested in connection with a defamation a case against him at Walvis Bay in 2023.

According to the police’s crime report, Nghishihange, who is the complainant’s ex-boyfriend, was arrested at Omuthiya in the Oshikoto region.

It is alleged that he posted naked pictures of the complainant on his forex trading Instagram page, along with messages referring to her as “a b*tch”.
He was granted bail in this matter.

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