The naked city …

WITCHDOCTOR, mental patient or sleepwalker? Windhoek resident Lisa Beukes found herself asking this question early yesterday morning while trying to chase a semi-naked man from her backyard in Khomasdal, near the Windhoek Vocational Training Centre (VTC).

Beukes and her sister were watching television while the rest of the household slept, when suddenly their dogs started barking. After alerting her sleeping husband to what she thought was a burglar, the Beukes family found themselves staring through the window at a man dressed only in a shirt and a pair of elastic bands tied around each arm.”He was a big, fit man and he was walking around the yard picking up things and putting them in his shirt (pocket),” she told The Namibian.Beukes, her husband and her sister went into the yard to confront the man, and she said this left them even more confused than before.”He didn’t sound drunk or disturbed at all.But it took a while to get him to say anything,” she said.Lisa Beukes said he started mumbling that he was looking for his sister, and that this was his house.While her husband was getting more frustrated with the man who would not say who he was or why he was walking around their yard semi-naked, Beukes, worried that a fight might break out between the two men.She ran inside the house to get a bucket of water.”He looked like one of these witchdoctors I’ve seen on TV, and I remembered you should throw them with salt water,” she said.After dousing the man with the cold, salt water, and even praying for his removal, Beukes says they finally managed to force the man out of the yard.”He started walking listlessly into the street, and we thought he might get killed walking like that.We decided to go to the filling station to fuel our car and buy (cellphone) credit to phone the Police.Luckily we found the City Police at the filling station, and we told them about this man,” she said.City Police and the family found the man, who was now calling himself Simon and Dawid alternatively, in the backyard of another house nearby.He insisted that this was his sister’s home and that his clothes were inside.The residents of the house said they did not know the man at all.The ordeal ended when the City Police got the man into their van and drove him to the Katutura Police Station.The City Police yesterday confirmed the incident, but said the man had not been locked up.Staff at the Katutura Police station also confirmed knowledge of the strange, semi-naked man, but said he was not brought inside and no charges were laid against him.His current whereabouts are not known.After alerting her sleeping husband to what she thought was a burglar, the Beukes family found themselves staring through the window at a man dressed only in a shirt and a pair of elastic bands tied around each arm. “He was a big, fit man and he was walking around the yard picking up things and putting them in his shirt (pocket),” she told The Namibian.Beukes, her husband and her sister went into the yard to confront the man, and she said this left them even more confused than before.”He didn’t sound drunk or disturbed at all.But it took a while to get him to say anything,” she said.Lisa Beukes said he started mumbling that he was looking for his sister, and that this was his house.While her husband was getting more frustrated with the man who would not say who he was or why he was walking around their yard semi-naked, Beukes, worried that a fight might break out between the two men.She ran inside the house to get a bucket of water.”He looked like one of these witchdoctors I’ve seen on TV, and I remembered you should throw them with salt water,” she said.After dousing the man with the cold, salt water, and even praying for his removal, Beukes says they finally managed to force the man out of the yard.”He started walking listlessly into the street, and we thought he might get killed walking like that.We decided to go to the filling station to fuel our car and buy (cellphone) credit to phone the Police.Luckily we found the City Police at the filling station, and we told them about this man,” she said.City Police and the family found the man, who was now calling himself Simon and Dawid alternatively, in the backyard of another house nearby.He insisted that this was his sister’s home and that his clothes were inside.The residents of the house said they did not know the man at all.The ordeal ended when the City Police got the man into their van and drove him to the Katutura Police Station.The City Police yesterday confirmed the incident, but said the man had not been locked up.Staff at the Katutura Police station also confirmed knowledge of the strange, semi-naked man, but said he was not brought inside and no charges were laid against him.His current whereabouts are not known.