A case of gender-based violence that resulted in the arrest of a 29-year-old man from Okahandja has now seen police pitted against the suspect's mother.

The suspect, Atikina Noabed, appeared in the Okahandja Magistrate's Court today for allegedly beating his girlfriend. 

When Atikina Noabeb entered the Okahandja Magistrate's Court, his head was wrapped in a bandage.

The case has been postponed to March after he reportedly physically assaulted his girlfriend recently.

Noabeb is currently admitted at the Okahandja State Hospital.

His mother, Sofia Doeses, has taken issue with police, who she says beat her son while he was in custody.

She wants answers about what happened after police caught up with Noabeb at the permanent roadblock between Okahandja and Windhoek, where he was eventually apprehended.

She asserts that he was beaten by several police officers while being handcuffed.

“I am not justifying my son’s actions and admit that what he has done to his girlfriend is completely wrong, but if someone commits a crime, the police have no right to beat people how they want. They are just supposed to arrest him and imprison him. Why did they have to beat him like that?” she questioned their actions.

At one point, she said, he reportedly fled from the hospital before he was re-arrested and beaten again.

Doeses explained that she attempted to open a case against the officers who assaulted her son but maintains that police refuse to register it.

Instead, she was told to make an appointment with the Inspector General of the Police to lodge a complaint.

“My daughter also went to the Office of the Ombudsman and was told that they will help open a case provided that we also reach out to the NBC News team and cover this story.”

The Police Head of the Public Relations Division, Kauna Shikwambi, said she was not aware of the case but said Naobeb has the right to open a case against the Police officers.