Roland Routh
WINDHOEK – The former cleaner and acting hostel father at Karundu Primary School in Otjiwarongo last week denied all 32 allegations against him before Judge Alfred Siboleka in the Windhoek High Court, situated at the Windhoek Correctional Services premises.
After State Advocate Palmer Khumalo read out the charges against Merven Nguyapeua, 48, he pleaded not guilty to each and every one of them.
Nguyapeua faces 32 counts of rape, or 27 alternative counts of having sexual intercourse with a child below the age of 16 years.
According to the State, he forced at least 10 boys between the age of 13 and 15 years to sodomise him after he stimulated their private parts.
The first incident allegedly occurred in 2013 and it continued until February 2016 when he was arrested.
The charge sheet says he sexually assaulted the first boy who was 14 years old, on six occasions during 2013 and 2014, a 13-year-old boy once, another 14-year-old once, and then a 15-year-old on three different occasions. It is further alleged that he raped a 14-year-old boy during January of 2015 on two occasions and again during the second term. He is further accused of raping another 14-year-old during the second term of January 2015 on two occasions as well as another boy, also aged 14, on three occasions during 2015.
During September of 2015 he allegedly sexually assaulted another 14-year-old on three occasions before he committed another six sexual assaults on a 13-year-old boy before he was arrested on March 1, 2016. He had raped the same boy in May 2015, the charge sheet states.
Milton Engelbrecht from Engelbrecht Attorneys, who is representing Nguyapeua on legal aid instructions, informed the court the pleas are in accordance with his instructions. They did not enter a plea explanation and put the State to prove all the allegations against the accused.
The trial continues today and Nguyapeua remains in custody.