‘He was like a son to us’

To Rodensia Doëses’ family, Dickson Karomuine is no stranger.

Karomuine is accused of murdering his former partner’s son, Gephardt Doëseb (11), who was reported missing at Rehoboth on 11 September.

Richard Doëseb, the brother of Gephardt’s mother Rodensia Doëses, says Karomuine was welcomed to the family when he became her partner, and was treated like a brother-in-law and son.

Doëseb describes Karomuine as a tender-hearted person who did not drink or smoke and was known to drive a taxi at Rehoboth.

“He was like a child in the house. When my sister brought him into the house, we accepted him as a brother-in-law, and my father took him more as a son,” he says.

A Grade 5 pupil, Gephardt was reported missing on 11 September after he did not return home from school.

His body was discovered in a riverbed at Rehoboth by girls who were herding goats the following day.

Karomuine has since been arrested in connection with Gephardt’s death.

Doëseb says the family is struggling to reconcile the person they knew with the allegations against him. He says Karomuine had been accepted and treated as part of the family.

For Paul Links (57), Gephardt’s grandfather, the boy’s death has been particularly painful because of the close bond they shared.

Links recalls how Gephardt grew up close to the family and spent a significant amount of time with him.

The two were so close that Links says they sometimes shared a bed.

“I am very, very sad,” Links says.

He says Gephardt was a calm child and had been part of his daily life as he grew up.

Gephardt’s death has left his family mourning a child who, according to Links, was deeply connected to those around him.

For Doëseb, the pain is complicated by the fact that the man now accused in connection with Gephardt’s death was once someone the family treated as one of their own.

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