Catherine Sasman
22 August 2008
Windhoek — A large crowd of mourners gathered at the home of murdered four-year-old Adriana Jacobs whose severely brutalised body was found in bushes behind Okarumba Street in Wanaheda a week ago.
Her grief-stricken mother, Simone Jacobs, and grandmother Katrina Jacobs, broke down in inconsolable sobs when the white casket bedecked with flowers arrived at the home.
The two women launched a fruitless search for weeks after Adriana went missing while playing at a neighbour's house on June 30.
Her body was found on August 12. The grandmother went to identify her after a call from the police.
The murder of the young girl shocked and enraged the community, and calls for stiff punishment of the perpetrator was demanded from Soweto local authority councillor, Rachel Jacobs, the Swapo Party Youth League, and other activists.
"These barbaric acts by perpetrators of these heinous crimes are not only a gross violation of human rights, but also an indication of the moral decay of some parts of our society," said Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Marlene Mungunda, at the memorial service.
"Children should be protected, cared for and loved, by all peace-loving Namibians and certainly not to be murdered," she said.
Mungunda called on the police to leave no stone unturned in the search for the perpetrators, and that both men and women should participate in stemming and eradicating gender-based violence.
Also speaking at the occasion, gender and media practitioner, Sarry Xoagus-Geingos, said it has become clear that perpetrators are targeting the weak, and appealed to women to caution their children against the dangers lurking on the streets and in their homes.
Police investigations are continuing and no suspects have yet been rounded up.
Adriana was buried at the Oponganda cemetery in Katutura.
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