Roland Routh
WINDHOEK – The trial of South African citizen and alleged paedophile, Marthinus Pretorius, is set to start before Deputy Judge President Hosea Angula on June 27 in the Windhoek High Court, instead of Judge President Petrus Damaseb as it was earlier indicated by Judge Christi Liebenberg during a scheduled pre-trial appearance in the Windhoek High Court.
Judge Angula indicated yesterday during another pre-trial appearance by Pretorius that he is satisfied all pre-trial procedures were finalised to his satisfaction and that the trial may start.
Pretorius will now go on trial after he managed to flee to his native South Africa after his alleged devious schemes to procure young girls from a Swakopmund woman for his perverted sexual pleasures. He was arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa in March 2016 after the Namibian authorities asked the South African authorities to extradite him to Namibia to stand trial on his alleged misdeeds, but was only extradited to Namibia in December last year due to the long extradition process.
He is being held at the Windhoek Correctional Facility’s section for trial-awaiting prisoners.
The woman from whom he allegedly procured the underage girls (13 and 14 years old) from, Johanna Lukas, was already convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison by Judge President Damaseb in 2015.
The State alleges that Pretorius paid Lukas N$10,000 to bring the underage girls to his residence in Swakopmund where he would commit sexual acts with them.
Pretorius faces 13 charges of rape and trafficking in persons, alternatively committing a sexual act with a child below 16 years of age, for allegedly defiling three minor girls while he was attached at Swakopmund’s Rössing Mine in 2012.
During the trial of Lukas, it came to light that the girls were paid by Pretorius anything from N$100 to N$300 at a time.
He will be defended by Mese Tjituri on instructions of legal aid and Felicitas Sikerete-Vendura will prosecute.
According to the charge sheet he received the first complainant who was 13 years old at the time from Lukas on April 23, 2012 and is thus guilty of trafficking in humans, which as an offence under the Prevention of Organised Crimes Act, and raped her. He faces nine charges in respect of the first complainant – four trafficking in persons and five rape counts. It is alleged by the State that he received and raped the girl once in April and then another five times during May, 2012.
In respect of the second victim, the State alleges that Pretorius received and raped the girl who was 14 years old at the time once during the month of June 2012. He also received another underage girl during the month of June, 2012 and raped her, the charge sheet states.