Murder of Norwegian in Limbe, 7 arrested, ex-wife suspected

Independent investigations by the Cameroon Journal have produced startling revelations on the murder of Jan Harald Thogers, a Norwegian expatriate killed last Friday, July 10, at his Batoke residence near Limbe. Seven people have been arrested and detained at the Buea Judicial police as investigations continue.

The seven in police custody include relatives of Thogers’ ex-wife and close friends of the Norwegian. The arrest and detention of some family members of Thogers’ ex-wife whose only name by press time we got as Mapong, a native of Bassa has fuelled speculations of her possible involvement in the macabre incident.

According to our findings, Mapong was married to Thogers sometime in 2008 and both lived together happily until trouble showed its ugly face sometime in 2011. The Cameroon Journal gathered she allegedly started acting strangely, keeping late nights, abusing and disrespecting the husband.

As the situation deteriorated, Thogers is alleged to have sued for divorce that same year, however, it dragged on till 2012 when the court finally granted the divorce given that Mapong did not want the divorce to go through.

During their happy days, Mapong had brought in her brother to live with them with the consent of her husband. The brother, we gathered, became solely responsible for the supervision of most of the construction projects that were being carried out by Thogers, buying and supplying of sand amongst others.

Dissatisfied at the way his sister was treating Thogers in the house, Mapong’s brother got angry with her and decided to move out into one of the houses owned by Thogers. After the divorce, Thogers brought in another Cameroonian lady of Bamileke origin. Her name we are withholding for security reasons.

Sources close to Thogers told the Journal that, since the new girlfriend came in to the picture, he has received several threats from Mapong. She is alleged to have sent several threatening messages to him after he won’t pick up her calls. We were also told that Mapong even sent warning messages to Thogers’s new girlfriend allegedly warning she will deal with them. Our source further disclosed that it is no secret in Batoke that Mapong had once stormed the house of Thogers in his absence and engaged in a fist fight with his new girlfriend.

Investigators are, however, still exploring the veracity of these allegations. Thogers’ cell phone and that of the girlfriend was taken away by the murderers before murdering him. Security forces confirmed the allegations. “We are working on that end but still exploring other possibilities,” they said.

In the meantime, the whereabouts of Mapong remains unknown. Several sources have said that she travelled out of the country sometime in 2014, thereby complicating her alleged involvement.

A former neighbour of Mapong told the Journal that she travelled to the USA, others say Germany and another source strongly believes she is still in the country. That is not all; another source alleges that an ex-wife of Thogers is in Norway but it is still to be confirmed whether the said ex-wife in Norway is Mapong or someone else.

A Norwegian newspaper, VG investigating the story revealed that Thogers’ parents are both dead, he was an only child and that his successors in Norway are some three children who did not know him well.

The newspaper also reported that Thogers grew up in Oslo, the capital of Norway. He began traveling to Cameroon at around year 2000. He inherited a good deal of money some years ago, some of which he invested in his house in Batoke.

Thogers was regularly in touch with his lawyer in Norway, one Birger Tennøe. They actually spoke on the phone the day of the murder. Here’s a quote from Tennøe, Thogers’ lawyer in Norway; “I talked with him 2-3 hours before the murder. He was in good spirit, and everything was normal. He talked about what he had been up to lately, and what plans he had for the future”.

The lawyer has also been in touch with Thogers’ Bamileki girlfriend. “I talked with her yesterday. She is OK, given the circumstances. She is taken care of by local health care and is being guarded by the police,” the Norwegian lawyer said.

The girlfriend in question has been put under police protection for fear that she might be in danger, since she witnessed the murder. Jan Thogers lived in a private estate completely isolated and about 2 kilometres from the central town of Batoke.

When we got to Batoke we were informed that we could not get close to the house because a bailiff had sealed the house being a crime scene.

The Chief of Batoke, however, told us that it is a big loss to the community and that he has asked his people to report any suspect to the police that will help them trace the killers of Thogers, who was given the title of Mola Lyonga by the people of Batoke.