‘He cut my daughter’s tongue with scissors’

A SWAKOPMUND man was arrested on Monday after allegedly cutting his ex-girlfriend’s tongue in two with a pair of scissors.

Erongo deputy commissioner Erastus Iikuyu says Nikanor Katolli (23) allegedly cut Soini Shihepo’s tongue at Mondesa on Sunday.

“She sustained serious injuries,” he says.

Katolli appeared in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s Court on Monday and was not granted bail.

His case was postponed to 12 October for further investigation.

The police did not provide details on what led to the incident.

According to Shihepo’s mother, Eunike Nashidengo (45), she is heartbroken because her 26-year-old daughter is now unable to speak.

“I was at home when I received a call at around 23h00 from my daughter, who sounded terrified. She told me the father of her one-year-old toddler was at her place and he may harm her.

“I immediately called a relative who lives nearby, but she was not reachable, so I decided to go there myself while still making calls for people to check on her,” she says.

Nashidengo says by the time she arrived at her daughter’s place, the house was surrounded by many people and her daughter was lying on the ground bleeding from her mouth.

“When I got there it was too late, my daughter was already deeply hurt by this man that I was not familiar with. He cut my daughter’s tongue with scissors,” she says.

Nashidengo says Katolli was allegedly trying to run away when a group of men from the neighbourhood chased after him and caught him.

Shihepo was rushed to Swakopmund State Hospital and later to Katutura Intermediate Hospital.

Nashidengo says she was in shock as her daughter has never reported any violent behaviour by her boyfriend.

“I am not so familiar with this man, and this was the first time I was hearing and seeing something like this.

“I want him to not be given bail, because we do not know what else he is capable of doing to my daughter,” she says.

“She has no scars on her body. He must have tied her up to cut her tongue,” she says.

She says although her daughter was in a critical condition on Wednesday, she was in a much better state yesterday.

A close friend of Shihepo’s, who did not want to be identified, said: “He deserves to remain behind bars, because we don’t know what he is capable of.”