Police send murder weapon for forensic testing

Zambezi regional police officers say they have sent the firearm that has allegedly been used to shoot and kill Calvin Sibuku Sinyepe (42) last month for forensic testing in order to officially charge the three suspects in custody for his murder.

Katima Mulilo residents woke up to the shocking news of Sinyepe’s alleged shooting on 2 March at the Greenwell Matongo location by three suspects who were allegedly attempting to break into his neighbour’s house.

Sinyepe reportedly arrived home at around 02h00 from socialising when he interrupted the three suspects, who then allegedly shot and killed him in front of his gate and fled the scene.

Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, regional police commander and commissioner Andreas Shilelo said three suspects have been arrested, but not officially charged with Sinyepe’s murder pending the forensic report.

The firearm was sent to Windhoek on Sunday to be tested against the jacket of the bullet retrieved from the late Sinyepe’s body during his autopsy, he added.

Shilelo said the firearm that has allegedly been used to kill Sinyepe was found at the house of one of the suspects.

“We further discovered that the very same firearm, which we tracked down was stolen. The owner said that when the firearm was stolen, it had four bullets, but when they discovered it at the suspect’s house, one bullet was missing. The suspect told the investigators that he discharged the firearm to test whether it was working. Based on his claims, the investigators took the suspect to where he said he fired the gun, but could not find any casings. We already sent the jacket of the bullet to our forensics officials, and now we sent the gun as well,” he said.

According to Shilelo, they are confident that the firearm was used to kill Sinyebe, but for the evidence to stand up in court, they need to test it.

“I will be in contact with the forensic department to see how best they can speed up the process of their investigation so that the pending evidence can be brought back to the region and be submitted to the court of law,” he said.

Last month, during an interview with The Namibian Sinyepe’s brother, Lovemore Sinyepe, said the family was worried that his murder would become a cold case as the police were not taking it seriously and had no leads at the time.

He said there were many conspiracy theories surrounding his brother’s death, leaving the family with more questions than answers.

“It was even reported in the media that the police have allegedly arrested suspects, but seemingly these suspects have not been charged with murder. This is really confusing and hurting us as a family. However, the police are not giving us any progress reports on the matter. We keep on calling them to ask, but we are just being told they are still investigating. However, this is not satisfactory for us. They are supposed to have solid answers for us by now,” he said.

Lovemore Sinyepe further said that his late brother had a bright future as a teacher and the regional chairperson of the Namibia Schools Sport Union.

He added that his brother was a father of eight children and was also happily married.

“My brother was a friendly and kind man. He loved sports and wanted to put the Zambezi region on the map through local talent promotion. He was also a farmer,” he said.

Lovemore Sinyepe noted that his brother was laid to rest on 8 March at Bukalo village.