Maria Amakali
City Police spokesperson Fabian Amukwelele allegedly admitted to raping a 27-year-old woman in January, according to one of the investigating officers dealing with the case.
Detective Ndeapo Nambahu from the Namibian Police Gender-Based Violence Protection Unit testified yesterday that this information was derived from a string of text messages exchanged between Amukwelele and the victim after the reported incident of 11 January.
Nambahu was one of the two State witnesses to take the stand in the ongoing bail application in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court where rape accused Amukwelele wants to be released on bail. “In one of the text messages, he (Amukwelele) said that he had read up on date rape. He explained that it was not in his nature to do what he has done and he was sorry that it happened,” said Nambahu.
Date rape, according to Wikipedia, refers to a rape in which there has been some sort of romantic or potentially sexual relationship between the two parties.
Nambahu added that the messages clearly indicate that Amukwelele was aware he had raped the victim, as he was very apologetic to her in their communication. Amukwelele was allegedly trying to emotionally manipulate the victim in his communication, according to Nambahu.
It was her testimony that while the matter was being investigated, Amukwelele contacted her to enquire about the pregnancy and the status of the investigations.
“He texted and later called me, saying that should we carry out an abortion on the victim without his consent, he was going to institute legal action against me. I interpreted that as a threat,” said Nambahu.
It was her testimony that the victim requested to have the pregnancy terminated, as she did not want to bear a child that is a result of her being raped. Consequently, Nambahu facilitated the process in March to get a court order for the victim to have a medical abortion.
Nambahu, however, informed the court that the state is waiting for the DNA results to determine if Amukwelele is the father of the terminated foetus.
Nambahu is against Amukwelele being granted bail, saying he has the potential to interfere with ongoing investigations and State witnesses because of his position as an officer of the law. Furthermore, the victim is in a state of trauma and the State has strong evidence against Amukwelele.
Amukwelele, who was arrested on 8 April, maintains sex with the complainant was consensual and he did not rape her as she claims. It was his testimony on Tuesday that it was the complainant who initiated for them to have sexual relations.
Local lawyer Mbushandje Ntinda is representing Amukwelele and prosecutor Rowan van Wyk was standing in for the State.
The matter has been set down for today for the two counsels to present the submissions before the court can make a ruling in the matter.
– mamakali@nepc.com.na