Body of Oshana butcher’s second victim found

She was found dead in an open veld with over 20 stab wounds in the back, three in the chest, one on the left eye, one on the neck and one on the finger.

Basilia Shikesho is the second murder victim of a 31-year-old self-confessed killer. Her body was found about 800 metres from her grandparents’ homestead at Okau-kamasheshe village in the Oshana Region. A mattress and blanket lay close by.

The Oshana Police rushed to the crime scene after the suspect confessed from his hospital bed yesterday morning. “He told us, ‘yes, I killed her. She is in a field on a mattress.’ After that we told the villagers to help us search the area,” said Inspector Peter Kakwambi, Head of the Oshana Crime Investigations Unit.

Shikesho’s body was found two days after 22-year-old Frieda Shikongo was found dead at Okandjengedi. Her throat was slit with a panga inside the rented quarters of the butcher. The suspected murderer, who worked at a local slaughter house, had allegedly promised to marry both women.

Police speculate that the suspect killed Shikongo either on Sunday night or early Monday morning and locked her body in his room. He then got a lift to Okau-kamasheshe on Monday morning after calling Shikesho, instructing her to meet him next to the road.

“Basilia (Shikesho) works at a family-owned millet at the village. On Monday morning she didn’t open the business as usual. We think it is because she went to meet the suspect,” Kakwambi said.

The Oshana Police Commander, Commissioner Ndahangwapo Kashihakumwa suspect the butcher tried to seduce Shikesho by suggesting she gets a mattress so that they can sleep in the open veld.

Although a kitchen knife was found at the crime scene, police suspect that a traditional knife was used because the wounds were inflicted by a weapon with a sharp edge.

“Once he had killed both girls, he went to his house at Okau-kamasheshe and called his landlord to notify them of (Shikongo’s) body and sent a message to an in-law at Oranjemund informing her that (Shikesho) is dead, before trying to end his life,” said Kashihakumwa.

By yesterday afternoon, the murder suspect had still not been charged as he is being treated at the Oshakati State Hospital after he drank methylated spirits and sleeping pills.

“The motive is not clear, but so far the suspect told us it is because the girls squandered his money,” added Kashihakumwa.