Teenager shot in children’s home

THE suspect in the shooting of a 13-year-old girl at a children’s home in Windhoek last Wednesday is still on the run and there is speculation that he could be hiding in the Rehoboth area.

Twenty-year-old Frederick Hansen is charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and firing a weapon in a residential area. The victim, Lydia Hilundwa, a pupil of the Khomas High School, was wounded in the right thigh when Hansen allegedly shot her in a bedroom at the Windhoek Children’s Home.Lydia is recovering in the Roman Catholic Hospital in Windhoek.She was out of danger and in good spirits when The Namibian visited her yesterday.Lydia told The Namibian she went to see a friend, Daphne Vries, at the children’s home when, at around 15h00, Hansen and two other young men entered Daphne’s bedroom.”They started talking.Then the one pulled a gun out of his pocket and said ‘look, I have a gun’.He was playing with the gun.”Hansen allegedly pointed the gun at Daphne, who dodged out of the way.The gun went off and the bullet hit Lydia in the leg.”It was the worst pain I have ever felt,” said Lydia.”And the noise was terrible.I was bleeding a lot.”Hansen and the two men immediately fled the scene.Daphne called for help.”Other pupils at the home carried me to the school nurse.My father arrived and they phoned the ambulance.”Lydia’s father, Windhoek lawyer Spike Hilundwa, was on the premises of the Namibia Children’s Home at the time of the shooting, attending to other business.”When they called me I was surprised that Lydia was there too.I didn’t know she had come to visit her friend.”Hansen is the adopted son of Patty Geingos, and the weapon – which does not belong to her – had allegedly been in Geingos’s legal custody at the time Hansen took it.Geingos was contacted but declined to comment.Lydia’s father, Spike, declined to comment about his feelings when he saw his daughter minutes after the shooting.”I’d rather leave my emotions out of this,” he said, closing an evidence file he has been compiling since the shooting.Warrant Officer James Matengu of the Namibian Police yesterday confirmed that the firearm had been recovered but could supply no further information at the time.The two young men who were with Hansen have not been charged.”Apparently they were not even aware that Hansen had a firearm on his person,” said Matengu.The victim, Lydia Hilundwa, a pupil of the Khomas High School, was wounded in the right thigh when Hansen allegedly shot her in a bedroom at the Windhoek Children’s Home.Lydia is recovering in the Roman Catholic Hospital in Windhoek.She was out of danger and in good spirits when The Namibian visited her yesterday.Lydia told The Namibian she went to see a friend, Daphne Vries, at the children’s home when, at around 15h00, Hansen and two other young men entered Daphne’s bedroom.”They started talking.Then the one pulled a gun out of his pocket and said ‘look, I have a gun’.He was playing with the gun.”Hansen allegedly pointed the gun at Daphne, who dodged out of the way.The gun went off and the bullet hit Lydia in the leg.”It was the worst pain I have ever felt,” said Lydia.”And the noise was terrible.I was bleeding a lot.”Hansen and the two men immediately fled the scene.Daphne called for help.”Other pupils at the home carried me to the school nurse.My father arrived and they phoned the ambulance.”Lydia’s father, Windhoek lawyer Spike Hilundwa, was on the premises of the Namibia Children’s Home at the time of the shooting, attending to other business.”When they called me I was surprised that Lydia was there too.I didn’t know she had come to visit her friend.”Hansen is the adopted son of Patty Geingos, and the weapon – which does not belong to her – had allegedly been in Geingos’s legal custody at the time Hansen took it.Geingos was contacted but declined to comment.Lydia’s father, Spike, declined to comment about his feelings when he saw his daughter minutes after the shooting.”I’d rather leave my emotions out of this,” he said, closing an evidence file he has been compiling since the shooting.Warrant Officer James Matengu of the Namibian Police yesterday confirmed that the firearm had been recovered but could supply no further information at the time.The two young men who were with Hansen have not been charged.”Apparently they were not even aware that Hansen had a firearm on his person,” said Matengu.