Suspect in car-chase case arrested

POLICE have arrested a suspect in a vehicle theft case that led to a mid-city car crash, a shooting, and a high-speed getaway chase on Wednesday.

The suspected thief, who made a temporary getaway in an Isuzu four-wheel drive bakkie after he had crashed into an unmarked Police vehicle, was arrested in Otjomuise in Windhoek at about 22h30 on Thursday, according to Detective Chief Inspector Nelius Becker, the commanding officer of the Serious Crime Unit in Windhoek. The alleged thief crashed into the Police vehicle that tried to block his escape route.The suspect was found with what might be telltale signs that could tie him to the escape after he abandoned the bakkie he drove into a lamp pole in Kilimanjaro Street in Eros.Becker said the suspect was found with cut marks on his wrists – possibly from his attempts to get over a wall with razor wire on top as he fled through a yard close to where the stolen car had been abandoned – and also with tears in his trousers and marks on his legs.These may have been the results of an attack by three dogs that the fleeing car thief sustained in the yard through which he had tried to make his getaway.The theft of the bakkie last week took place about two weeks after a burglary at the home of the vehicle’s owner, during which his pick-up’s keys were stolen.It is suspected that the thief was part of a group which kept the bakkie’s owner under surveillance until they lured him to the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Windhoek.From there, the car was stolen once it had been parked and the owner had gone into the building.The arrested man is expected to appear in court today.The alleged thief crashed into the Police vehicle that tried to block his escape route.The suspect was found with what might be telltale signs that could tie him to the escape after he abandoned the bakkie he drove into a lamp pole in Kilimanjaro Street in Eros.Becker said the suspect was found with cut marks on his wrists – possibly from his attempts to get over a wall with razor wire on top as he fled through a yard close to where the stolen car had been abandoned – and also with tears in his trousers and marks on his legs.These may have been the results of an attack by three dogs that the fleeing car thief sustained in the yard through which he had tried to make his getaway.The theft of the bakkie last week took place about two weeks after a burglary at the home of the vehicle’s owner, during which his pick-up’s keys were stolen.It is suspected that the thief was part of a group which kept the bakkie’s owner under surveillance until they lured him to the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Windhoek.From there, the car was stolen once it had been parked and the owner had gone into the building.The arrested man is expected to appear in court today.