N$17m claim in fatal shooting by 'psychotic' employee

A case in which a man is seeking N$17 million in compensation for the alleged fatal shooting of his wife by a co-worker in a guarded building remains unresolved nearly three years after the incident.

Dr Fred Mwilima - who was married to the late Sarah Mwilima, the former national programme director of the Global Fund under the health ministry - argued in the Windhoek High Court that his wife was shot and killed in January 2019 inside her office by Simataa Simasiku.

Simasiku was employed at the ministry offices on the eighth floor of the City Centre building, where Sarah worked.

In his witness statement made in December 2022, Fred told the court that Vicmic Security, which was tasked with the legal duty to identify and remove any employees who could pose a substantial danger or potentially harm fellow employees, failed in its responsibility. He said Vicmic did not properly identify Simasiku as a dangerous employee.

“He [Simasiku] was allowed to enter the building with a firearm, carry it across the eighth floor, and ultimately threatened and shot two employees, including my wife.”

Vicmic has raised a plea of non-joinder, arguing that two important parties were not included in the case: Simasiku and Inter-Africa Security. The company later dropped its argument about including Simasiku, but still insists that Inter Africa Security should be added as a defendant in the matter because that company was responsible for securing the building’s entrance, as it was contracted by the building’s owners.



'Hearing voices'

In the particulars of claim, psychologist Dr Reinhardt Sienberhagen noted that from 2015 to 2019, Simasiku suffered from what was described as a severe form of psychotic mental illness.

“On various occasions, Simasiku believed that colleagues could read his mind. He also heard voices from a ‘director’ [Sarah], instructing him to open a forex account, in which he 'discovered about N$90 million'."

Sienberhagen said Simasiku claimed to have heard voices while being intimate with his wife.

The psychologist also revealed that Simasiku said he was angry and felt resentful towards Sarah and other employees after being informed that his employment contract would not be renewed when it expired in March 2019.

"After falling behind on payments and being refused a bank loan, he went to the director's office and shot her out of ‘humiliation'," court papers read. It is unclear what payments the accused was referring to.