{"id":23709,"date":"2022-06-30T16:32:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T16:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid"},"modified":"2022-06-30T16:50:46","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T16:50:46","slug":"accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid","title":{"rendered":"Accused albino hunters apply for legal aid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>The police have completed their investigations into the case of two men in custody for allegedly attempting to buy the hair of a person living with albinism.<\/p>\n

Making their routine appearance in the Katutura Magistrate\u2019s Court yesterday, Fred Simasiku (50) and Obrein Liwelu (45) were informed the State has finalised investigations into their case.<\/p>\n

Thus, the matter is ready for trial.<\/p>\n

However, Simasiku and his co-accused informed magistrate Jo-Rina Jagger that they no longer wish to represent themselves and would be approaching the directorate of Legal Aid for legal representation.<\/p>\n

The court postponed the matter to 28 July, and ordered for the accused to be remanded in police custody.<\/p>\n

The prosecution is charging Simasiku and Liwelu with a count under the Witchcraft Suppression Proclamation 27 of 1933.<\/p>\n

The police arrested Simasiku and his co-accused on 18 February 2022 in Windhoek after they approached a person living with albinism and asked him to sell his hair to them.<\/p>\n

Simasiku and Liwelu promised the complainant that they were willing to pay N$1 million for his hair.<\/p>\n

The complainant reached out to the Namibia Albinism Association, which then tipped off the police about the offer.<\/p>\n

Albinism is an inherited genetic condition that causes little to no production of melanin.<\/p>\n

Melanin regulates skin, hair and eye colour.<\/p>\n

The types of albinism vary, but the most common medical impairments include vision and dermatological risks.<\/p>\n

Exposure to the sun can be highly damaging to the skin and eyes.<\/p>\n

In some African countries, people living with albinism are often attacked because of the superstition that albino body parts bring wealth, power or sexual conquest, and that having sex with a person living with albinism cures HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n

Attackers sell albino body parts to witchdoctors for thousands of dollars, according to Amnesty International.<\/p>\n

Before court proceedings, a small number of people living with albinism and sympathisers held a peaceful demonstration at court against Simasiku and Liwelu being granted bail.<\/p>\n

The president of the Namibian Albino Association, Joseph Ndinomupya, said the court should enquire who sent Simasiku and Liwelu as well as why their body parts are needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince this came to light, we do not feel safe anymore. We are in the dark about how many of these people are out there looking to get a hand on our body parts. We live in fear every day,\u201d explained Ndinomupya.<\/p>\n

Deon Baisako, secretary general of the Namibia Mental Health Association, said he is in solidarity with those affected by the incident.<\/p>\n

He said people living with mental issues are in the same boat if not worse than those living with albinism.<\/p>\n

Thus, it is important that they support one another.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. The police have completed their investigations into the case of two men in custody for allegedly attempting to buy the hair of a person living with albinism. Making their routine appearance in the Katutura Magistrate\u2019s Court yesterday, Fred Simasiku (50) and Obrein Liwelu (45) were informed the State has finalised investigations into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":23708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-23709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nAccused albino hunters apply for legal aid - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The police have completed their investigations into the case of two men in custody for allegedly attempting to buy the h ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Accused albino hunters apply for legal aid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The police have completed their investigations into the case of two men in custody for allegedly attempting to buy the h ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-30T16:32:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-30T16:50:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/06\/postQueueImg_13-62bdd45183e10.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"325\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Accused albino hunters apply for legal aid\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-30T16:32:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-30T16:50:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid\"},\"wordCount\":454,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/06\/postQueueImg_13-62bdd45183e10.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/accused-albino-hunters-apply-for-legal-aid\",\"name\":\"Accused albino hunters apply for legal aid - 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