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La Communauté Congolaise des USA est sous le choc de la nouvelle du meurtre de Maman Nabinta Kelekele Kalamb (49 ans) par son mari Namegabe Kelekele Mushegero (51 ans) dans la nuit du 15 mars 2009. Le couple Kelekele, originaire de Bukavu, vivait à Beaverton Valley, Portland dans l’Etat d’Oregon. Mr Kelekele Namegabe Mushegero est arrivé aux USA il y a 15 ans via le Kenya où il avait étudié et enseigné la religion avant d’émigrer vers les USA. . Mr Kelekele serait de la confession religieuse pentecôtiste et se disait "Pasteur".
Mr. Kelekele Namegabe Mushegero qui a tué sa femme à l’aide d’un marteau
Credit Photo: Portland Tribune News (USA)
Ayant été victime de la crise économique qui frappe au moins 5 millions d’américains en ce moment, Mr Kelekele a perdu son emploi il y a quelques mois et l’Etat a coupé ses indemnités de chômage au mois de février passé.
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Ses amis congolais, dont ses anciens élèves de Bukavu qui sont aux USA, ne comprennent pas ce qui s’est passé. Selon ces derniers, leur prof du secondaire à Bukavu ne présentait aucun signe d’un meurtrier. Mais voilà qu’à l’aide d’un marteau, Mr Kelekele a tué nuitamment son épouse Nabinta dans la chambre à coucher du couple. Alertée par la fille ainée du couple, la police était descendue sur les lieux, mais c’était trop tard. Le forfait était déjà consommé.
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Lors de son arrestation, Mr Kelekele a plaidé non coupable. D’après la Police, le meurtre peut être dit à une tentative de la femme d’abandonner son mari fauché par le chômage. Mais cela n’est qu’une hypothèse. Seules les enquêtes qui continuent permettront de savoir la cause de ce triste meurtre qui a mis fin à l’ « american dream » de maman Nabinta et de Kelekele dont l’avenir dépend désormais du jugement du tribunal. Comme il y a eu mort d’homme, la peine sera lourde dans un cas comme dans l’autre.
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Entretemps, les amis du couple ainsi que congolais de Portland préparent dans la douleur les funérailles de Maman Nabinta. Le prévenu Kelekele comparaîtra devant le Juge de Washington County Circuit Court, le Mardi 24 mars 2009 à 10h30.
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Article en Anglais paru dans Portland Tribune News
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Police say daughter’s frantic call led to murder arrest
Woman’s beating death was city’s first murder in two years
By David Holley
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The Beaverton Valley Times, Mar 16, 2009,
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The Beaverton man, who allegedly bludgeoned his wife to death with a hammer Monday taught religious studies classes before he came to the United States, was unemployed for months before the murder and was described as a good, normal man by a friend.
Namegabe Kelekele Mushegero, 51, was arrested for the murder of his 49-year-old wife, Nabinta Kelekele Kalamb, after police found him standing outside of his Vose neighborhood apartment with what appeared to be blood on his hands and clothing.
Mushegero taught high school level classes to Vincent Chirimwami in Bukavu, Congo, when both men lived there more than a decade ago. Chirimwami, who now lives in Portland, said Mushegero is a very normal person, whose academic emphasis was in religious studies.
“That’s a shock to me. I’ve never known him as a violent person,” Chirimwami said. “He was a good guy who threw (away) his life.”
Beaverton police found Nabinta Kalamb lying facedown at about 1 a.m. in the upstairs bedroom of her Sandwood Townhome residence, at 6155 S.W. King Blvd. Blood was spattered throughout the room and officers noticed two significant injuries on Kalamb’s head, according to a police probable cause affidavit.
It was Beaverton’s first murder in two years and the first Washington County murder this year.
Chirimwami said that he talked to Mushegero in February, and noted that the man seemed perfectly ordinary. He said Mushegero joked about wanting to retire in Mexico some day, because it is hot like Africa but near the U.S.
“He was just normal,” Chirimwami said.
Mushegero left Bukavu more than 15 years ago, Chirimwami recalled, to move to Kenya to continue his studies and teaching in religion. He said he believes Mushegero is Pentecostal.
“He used to call himself a pastor even though he didn’t have a church,” Chirimwami said.
After the family moved to the U.S. about 15 years ago, Chirimwami said Mushegero had steady work until about six months ago, when he began to receive unemployment benefits. Chirimwami said Mushegero told him that the benefits ran out in February.
Mushegero has not directly confessed to the murder. Beaverton detectives have come to believe that Kalamb’s murder might have happened because she may have considered leaving her husband.
“In the course of their investigation, that’s what (detectives) believe to be the most likely motive,” said Beaverton police spokeswoman Pam Yazzolino.
Mushegero’s frantic 24-year-old daughter called 9-1-1 at about 1 a.m. Monday and reported a fight between her parents.
“My dad killed my mom with a hammer,” Ahadi Kelekele told officers who arrived to check out the complaint.
According to the affidavit, Kelekele told officers that she awoke to screams from her younger siblings and ran upstairs to find her father standing over her mother, repeatedly hitting her with a hammer.
Kelekele yelled at Mushegero, pleading with him to stop, she told police. Her father did not respond.
Kelekele then called emergency dispatchers, and police arrived at 1:02 a.m.
The couple’s 8-year-old son woke up to a thumping noise and told police that he found Mushegero hitting Kalamb with a hammer, spraying blood around the room.
The child told officers that Kalamb was pleading with Mushegero to stop as she fell to the floor.
Mushegero pleaded not guilty to the murder Tuesday, and will appear at the Washington County Circuit Court March 24 for a pretrial hearing at 10:30 a.m.
Chirimwami said he remembers when Mushegero and Kalamb were married in Bukavu.
“She was really, really quiet and caring for her children,” he said.
People and organizations that worked with the family are trying to organize a funeral for Kalamb. A fund has been set up in her name at Washington Mutual to cover costs and support her children.
Police are continuing the investigation of the murder.
It still baffles Chirimwami, who moved to the U.S. five years ago and visited with Mushegero and his family multiple times, that Mushegero may have committed the crime.
“It’s not something that I could even think of him. When I saw his picture, I said, ‘Is this true?’ I don’t know man. Life is complicated.”
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