Former ‘model prisoner’ hangs himself

A TROUBLED life that once also showed signs of redemption and hope came to an end with the apparent suicide of Windhoek resident Hans Husselmann.

Husselmann was found hanged in a house in Pavlov Street in Windhoek West at around 12h00 on Tuesday, the Namibian Police report. According to the Police, Husselmann (40) had hanged himself with a rope.”No foul play is suspected,” the Police stated.Husselmann was found hanged just over 18 years after the shadow of the hangman’s noose first passed over him.That was when, as a young man of 22, accused of having committed two murders within the space of a month, Husselmann was in danger of being sentenced to death .Mainly due to Husselmann’s relatively young age when he committed those murders – he was 21 years old then – he was spared a death sentence and instead sentenced to life imprisonment on June 8 1989.He was released from Windhoek Central Prison after serving 14 and a half years on two charges of murder.The other charges included robbery with aggravating circumstances and malicious damage to property on which he was also found guilty.He was released on parole on February 6 2004, Namibian Prison Service spokesperson Ignatius Mainga said last week.Husselmann had managed to turn his life around over the years that he was in jail, Michaela Huebschle, former Deputy Minister of Prisons and Correctional Services and now the chairperson of prisoner rehabilitation organisation Criminals Return into Society (Cris) who got to know Husselmann while he was still in jail, commented last week.Recounting that in the time that he was in prison Husselmann completed several first-aid courses until he became a first-aid trainer teaching other inmates, Huebschle described Husselmann as having been a role model for other prisoners.Husselmann also qualified as a fitter and turner during his time in jail.After his release on parole he started working at the Windhoek Vocational Training Centre, where he was an instructor at the time of his death.According to his sister, Brigitte Louw, he wrote a last note to his family before his death.He kept the reasons for his suicide to himself, however.In the note, he stated that he was not angry with anyone, and that what he was about to do was a matter that was between him and the Lord alone, Louw says.Louw said on Friday that her brother did not show any signs of being depressed or having serious troubles in his life.He was employed, did not seem to be in financial difficulties, and was in a relationship with a woman with whom he also had a son, now about one year old, she indicated.In his youth, though, Husselmann was indeed a deeply troubled man.He went on trial in the then Supreme Court in Windhoek in March 1989 on charges that could have seen him receiving the ultimate penalty then in force in Namibia’s pre-Independence justice system: execution by hanging.Husselmann was accused of murdering a young farmer from southern Namibia next to the main road between Rehoboth and Kalkrand one evening at the end of May 1988.Husselmann’s claims that he had acted in self-defence when he shot that victim three times in the head, before he went on to dump the body in a ditch a few kilometres further down the road, stole a hoard of items from the victim’s vehicle, and then set the vehicle on fire, were rejected by the court.The court also rejected Husselmann’s claims that he again acted in self-defence when, while he was free on bail a month after the first killing, he killed an elderly gatekeeper at a Rehoboth hotel by stabbing, beating and kicking him to death – apparently after that victim had taken his time in opening a gate for Husselmann.At his trial, reports and testimony on Husselmann’s mental state painted a picture of a young man who had some serious personal problems.One clinical psychologist reported that Husselmann showed signs of an “anti-social tendency”, and that he was emotionally unstable and prone to react explosively to provocation or strong emotion.Both that psychologist and a psychiatrist further reported that Husselmann was at the same time unusually intelligent.He put his intelligence to good use after he was sent to jail with one life term of imprisonment for murder, another 14-year jail term on the other murder charge, and a further two years’ imprisonment on the robbery and malicious damage to property charges.In prison, he first completed his Grade 12 certificate before he completed further courses in law, security management, religious studies and first aid, and qualified as a fitter and turner.”He was a wonderful person.He really showed remorse for what he had done in his life,” Huebschle said.Husselmann’s funeral is set to take place at Rehoboth on Saturday.According to the Police, Husselmann (40) had hanged himself with a rope.”No foul play is suspected,” the Police stated.Husselmann was found hanged just over 18 years after the shadow of the hangman’s noose first passed over him.That was when, as a young man of 22, accused of having committed two murders within the space of a month, Husselmann was in danger of being sentenced to death .Mainly due to Husselmann’s relatively young age when he committed those murders – he was 21 years old then – he was spared a death sentence and instead sentenced to life imprisonment on June 8 1989.He was released from Windhoek Central Prison after serving 14 and a half years on two charges of murder. The other charges included robbery with aggravating circumstances and malicious damage to property on which he was also found guilty.He was released on parole on February 6 2004, Namibian Prison Service spokesperson Ignatius Mainga said last week.Husselmann had managed to turn his life around over the years that he was in jail, Michaela Huebschle, former Deputy Minister of Prisons and Correctional Services and now the chairperson of prisoner rehabilitation organisation Criminals Return into Society (Cris) who got to know Husselmann while he was still in jail, commented last week.Recounting that in the time that he was in prison Husselmann completed several first-aid courses until he became a first-aid trainer teaching other inmates, Huebschle described Husselmann as having been a role model for other prisoners.Husselmann also qualified as a fitter and turner during his time in jail.After his release on parole he started working at the Windhoek Vocational Training Centre, where he was an instructor at the time of his death.According to his sister, Brigitte Louw, he wrote a last note to his family before his death.He kept the reasons for his suicide to himself, however.In the note, he stated that he was not angry with anyone, and that what he was about to do was a matter that was between him and the Lord alone, Louw says.Louw said on Friday that her brother did not show any signs of being depressed or having serious troubles in his life.He was employed, did not seem to be in financial difficulties, and was in a relationship with a woman with whom he also had a son, now about one year old, she indicated.In his youth, though, Husselmann was indeed a deeply troubled man.He went on trial in the then Supreme Court in Windhoek in March 1989 on charges that could have seen him receiving the ultimate penalty then in force in Namibia’s pre-Independence justice system: execution by hanging.Husselmann was accused of murdering a young farmer from southern Namibia next to the main road between Rehoboth and Kalkrand one evening at the end of May 1988.Husselmann’s claims that he had acted in self-defence when he shot that victim three times in the head, before he went on to dump the body in a ditch a few kilometres further down the road, stole a hoard of items from the victim’s vehicle, and then set the vehicle on fire, were rejected by the court.The court also rejected Husselmann’s claims that he again acted in self-defence when, while he was free on bail a month after the first killing, he killed an elderly gatekeeper at a Rehoboth hotel by stabbing, beating and kicking him to death – apparently after that victim had taken his time in opening a gate for Husselmann.At his trial, reports and test
imony on Husselmann’s mental state painted a picture of a young man who had some serious personal problems.One clinical psychologist reported that Husselmann showed signs of an “anti-social tendency”, and that he was emotionally unstable and prone to react explosively to provocation or strong emotion.Both that psychologist and a psychiatrist further reported that Husselmann was at the same time unusually intelligent.He put his intelligence to good use after he was sent to jail with one life term of imprisonment for murder, another 14-year jail term on the other murder charge, and a further two years’ imprisonment on the robbery and malicious damage to property charges.In prison, he first completed his Grade 12 certificate before he completed further courses in law, security management, religious studies and first aid, and qualified as a fitter and turner.”He was a wonderful person.He really showed remorse for what he had done in his life,” Huebschle said.Husselmann’s funeral is set to take place at Rehoboth on Saturday.