Windhoek
People’s Primary School teacher Patrick Geingob, 34, who stands accused of raping a 13-year-old girl between May and October last year, was granted bail of N$7 000.
Proceedings were remanded to next week because the docket was not at court. The matter will proceed in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
Geingob was granted bail with strict conditions. He should not make direct or indirect contact with the victim or her family and he should not interfere with ongoing investigations, or State witnesses.
As part of his bail conditions he also has to surrender his passport to the police and should not go near People’s Primary School in Katutura. In addition, he has to report himself to the investigating officer regularly.
Magistrate Claudia Claasen presided. Fillemon Nyau represented the State.
Last October the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) called on learners to speak out and engage with trusted adults and their fellow learners should they be confronted with any inappropriate situation.
The LAC issued the advice in the wake of the double murder last year of Cecilia Kambuu Kuaseua, 30, and her younger sister, Jaqueline Kuaseua, 18, allegedly by Ananias Kamati. Kamati was Jaqueline’s Oshiherero class teacher and previously her lover.
Kamati allegedly killed the two women in the bushes between Elim and Hermann Gmeiner primary schools in Khomasdal.
LAC director Toni Hancox has called on parents and the wider community to be vigilant and to support learners, whether by reporting known teacher-learner relationships, or by helping children who speak out about intimate relations with teachers.
“Responsibility rests not only with the government alone. We call on all teachers to hold their peers accountable for their actions,” she said.