Roland Routh
Windhoek-The man accused of the brutal rape and murder of 13-year-old Rachel Vanessa Boois in the Omdel location of Henties Bay during the period May 3 to 4, 2014, on Monday denied all the charges levelled against him.
Appearing before High Court Judge Alfred Siboleka, Jandre Jacques de Klerk answered not guilty through an interpreter to each and every charge after Deputy Prosecutor General Advocate Antonia Verhoef read out the charges against him.
He faces one count of murder, three counts of rape, one count of violating a dead body, in addition to a count of housebreaking with intent to rape and rape.
According to the State he raped Boois in a half-built house twice before he broke her neck and stuck a stick in her private parts.
He is represented by local lawyer Titus Mbaeva on instructions of the directorate of legal aid.
Mbaeva confirmed the pleas and said they were in accordance with his instructions.
De Klerk denies that he was with the deceased during the time she was raped and murdered, but admitted that he had consensual intercourse with the 13-year-old a few days prior to the incident in the house of a certain Gert Maasdorp, although he could not remember exactly when.
He further denied he broke the neck of the deceased or that he stuck a stick in her privates.
He said he did not know the deceased was a minor when he had intercourse with her as she appeared “grown-up” to him, and also did not know it was a crime to have intercourse with a minor.
With regard to the charge that he raped another woman after he broke into her shack during the period June 14 to 15, 2013, he said that he went to the shack with the complainant’s boyfriend to get some cigarettes and when he later returned he found the door of the shack wide open.
De Klerk said he then undressed himself and asked the complainant who was totally naked for intercourse, but she refused saying her boyfriend was in the vicinity.
He testified the complainant then got extremely mad at him and he dressed and left, in the process leaving his underpants behind.
He denied rape, saying there was no evidence of penetration. The State alleges that while he was on bail on this matter he happened upon Boois and not only brutally violated her but ended her life by snapping her neck.
The police officer who conducted the scene of crime investigation, Warrant Officer Job Kauvi, told the court that when he saw the deceased for the first time she was on her knees with her right cheek on the ground and her bottom up in the air.
He further stated that he saw a stick covered with blood between her legs which were spread wide apart and she was bleeding from her nose.
According to news reports the deceased was a learner at a primary school in Henties Bay and was on holiday. She went missing the Friday before she was discovered the Sunday.
It is alleged in the indictment that De Klerk murdered Boois by suffocating her with his bare hands and she died as a result of asphyxia. He then broke her neck at the atlanto-axial joint after her death, the indictment alleges.
He however denies this and informed the court that there is no evidence that her neck was broken and that he denies violating her body after she was dead.
The trial continues and De Klerk remains in custody.