THE family of the teacher whose body was found at Tsintsabis on Thursday said she called her brother to tell him that she was in trouble, while police said they had arrested a suspect in connection with the murder.
Peneyambeko Ndeunyema (49), who taught life skills at the Mwadinomho Combined School in the Endola constituency, went missing from the Ongha settlement in the Ohangwena region on 18 November 2018. She transported her children to church from her village, Iilagati.
Ndeunyema’s body was found four days later, more than 150 kilometres away in the Oshikoto region. Her throat had been slit.
Family spokesperson Jason Kombada said Ndeunyema went missing after dropping off the children at church. She parked her vehicle at Ongha around 10h00 after having left the children.
Initially, Kombada said Ndeunyema was supposed to be in church with the children, but changed her mind saying she had something to take care of in Omuthiya, about 100km away.
“She said she would leave the car behind,” he explained.
Kombada added that Ndeunyema indicated she would not take long since she had to be at work on Monday, 19 November.
The Namibian understands that Ndeunyema was romantically involved with Ricardo Shahonya (52), a long-distance bus driver who came from the nearby village of Ohamboyomuve, and is believed to have sent someone to pick her up from Ongha. They would rthen meet at Omuthiya.
According to the family, Ndeunyema called her brother around midday from Cham Cham village in the Oshikoto region, asking if he had access to a car. The brother told her that he had no access to a car at the time.
“I think I am in trouble,” Ndeunyema told the unnamed brother before her mobile phone went dead.
During the search, the police obtained phone tracking information from MTC that revealed that Ndeunyema’s cellphone was switched off on Sunday afternoon in the Cham Cham area between Omuthiya and Oshivelo.
According to the police, they traced Shahonya’s mobile phone signal to the area where Ndeunyema’s body was found.
The police, therefore, suspect that Shahonya might have killed Ndeunyema, dumped the body at Tsintsabis and then continued with his journey to Windhoek.
On Tuesday, Shahonya returned to his village, where his wife found his body hanging from the rafters when she returned from work.
Oshikoto police commissioner Armas Shivute said they arrested a suspect, whose documents were picked up close to where Ndeunyema’s body was found.
“At the scene, police found some documents for somebody who is (now) in custody. The link is there, maybe Shahonya used someone else, or they assisted each other. The person will appear in the Tsumeb court today,” Shivute said.
A post-mortem will be conducted on Wednesday. Ndeunyema is survived by four children.
– tuyeimo@namibian.com.na
