Yesterday morning Namibia woke up to the confirmation that a toddler had lost his life after being attacked in a police holding cell.
One does not have to be journalist to raise immediate questions surrounding the incident that happened at the Wanaheda Police Station last week.
Irrespective of whether - as the police have claimed – the mother did not have anyone else to look after her son following her arrest for shoplifting, how did it come to this?
How does a child end up spending three months in a police holding cell in a democratic and free country like Namibia?
How does the child end up sharing a cell with his alleged killer who, as has been reported, was already awaiting trial for serious assault?
If it is true that the mother is a serial shoplifter and was in custody for stealing N$500 worth of items, how do serious offenders like rapists, murderers and attempted murderers end up getting bail?
Surely, even in the case of a repeat shoplifter, bail can and should be given. She did not harm anyone in the execution of her alleged crime, so should she not be able to wait to be tried while being out on bail?
So many questions and so far the answers have been paper thin to say the least.
If there had been an argument in the cell between the mother and the alleged child killer moments before the toddler was slammed head first into the bars and then into the concrete floor, then surely the mother and child should have been removed from the presence of the other woman.
All this points to the fact that heads need to be put on chopping blocks for what happened.
The justice system, from courts to police officers, must figuratively be put on trial for what happened. If there are culprits whose negligence and downright stupidity and laziness caused the death of this child, then let them face the full might of our legal system.
Namibians must not accept these kinds of incidents as normal. Our collective outrage must drive an investigation into what happened and the outcome must reverberate around the walls of parliament.
Having children die in police holdings cells is not what Namibia gained its political freedom for. It is not why blood was spilt to liberate our nation from tyranny.
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