WINDHOEK – A two-year-old girl from Outjo was raped and abandoned in the veld by her uncle who lured her from home and committed the gruesome act on Tuesday afternoon at the town.
It is alleged the uncle who lives in the same area of Soweto, but in a different house was visiting the toddler’s home and left with the little girl and two boys aged 2 and 4 telling them he was going to buy them sweets.
The girl and other children were left in the care of their grandmother after her (little girl’s) mother had left for work.
The unemployed uncle face charges of rape and kidnapping. He is expected to appear in Outjo Magistrate’s Court today.
Nampol spokesperson Chief Inspector Kauna Shikwambi said the family pursued their own search and by 12h00 they alerted the police to which the search was intensified.
According to Nampol Otjozondjupa Regional Crime Investigation Coordinator Deputy Commissioner Naukalemo Andreas, the suspect was arrested in the Soweto settlement on Tuesday afternoon after it was identified that he was the one who took the two boys who had returned home but the girl did not.
By this time, the uncle had already allegedly raped and left the little girl who had spent the whole day and night in the bush and returned to the settlement. New Era learnt the suspect had bloodstains on his hand, clothes and his manhood. Andreas said the suspect had taken the children around 10h00 in the morning from their home in Outjo, Soweto location.
She said the suspect took the toddler to the municipal plot in the bush.
“The search was intensified, the police were informed around 13h00 and the search started until yesterday morning 01h00. I was there myself, it was dark and that area does not have lighting. We had direction and I understand where she was found in the morning was near the area that we searched the previous night,” she said.
Andreas said the police continued with the search yesterday morning and the child was found alive in the bush at around 07h00. “The child spent the whole day and night in the bush. She looked very weak and injured. She is admitted at Outjo hospital. She is stable but in critical condition,” she added.
Outjo mayor Samuel! Oe-Amseb said the town municipality extended their sympathy to the parents of the child.
“We hope the law will take its course and from the local authority side we are appealing to men to act responsibly so that our mothers and children are safe and protected all the time,” stated! Oe-Amseb.
He said it is a rather unfortunate incident which the local authority does not condone especially with minor children or adults because they are running around wooing potential investors.