An inquest court in Windhoek ruled in October 1982 that nobody could be held criminally liable for the death of a detainee, because he had been killed while 'trying to escape lawful detention'. A similar conclusion, that there was no criminal liability on the part of the army, was reached by an inquest hearing in Rundu in another case described by a black police witness as one of 'murder'.
In the first case, an inquest hearing in Ondangwa on 10 August 1982 heard that a detainee held under Proclamation AG 9 at a military base in Ruacana had been assaulted and then shot dead while allegedly trying to escape on 16 January. The man's body had then apparently 'disappeared' while in transit to the mortuary in Oshakati.
The name of the detainee concerned is in some doubt. The inquest court ruled that his identity was unknown. An affidavit prepared by the curator of Oshakati mortuary, however, revealed that a black police officer had referred to the body as that of a Gottlieb Shivaya of Ruacana. The body was allegedly despatched from Ruacana airstrip to Oshakati as that of 'an unknown person who died unnaturally', but according to the curator never arrived at its destination.
According to the details available to the inquest, the detainee was picked up by an officer of the Military Intelligence section of 51 Battalion. He was then probably locked up at the detention barracks of the Ruacana military base, without the knowledge of the junior rank. It would appear that an underground bombshelter was used as a cell.
The detainee managed to escape from his cell at least twice. Rifleman Labuschagne of 51 Battalion told the inquest court that he had been on sentry duty at the bombshelter. The detainee had emerged from the cell and allegedly refused to return. Labuschagne hit him several times and eventually shot him dead when the detainee made a run for it.
No autopsy report was available for the inquest in Ondangwa as the detainee's body had subsequently disappeared in transit.
The second case concerned the death in the Kavango region of 55-year-old Sintenga Nguuru, found badly shot up in his mealie fields after going out early in the morning to chase off flocks of birds that had been damaging crops. His daughter, Katalina Kanoto, told the inquest court in Rundu in October 1982 that shortly after he had gone out, soldiers were seen moving into the fields. Thirty minutes of shooting ensued.
Corporal Johannes Rall told the court that he had been in command of a 12-man patrol. They had seen a man sitting in a tree commanding a wide view of the Omuramba valley, and concluded that he must be a SWAPO guerilla reconnoitring the area. The Corporal had therefore given the order to open fire.
When they approached the tree to inspect the corpse, Corporal Rall said, they had found the man was a civilian.
