Windoek
Not guilty was the answer by a young man accused of violating three schoolgirls on their way home from school in September 2010, each time State Advocate Palmer Khumalo read each of the eight counts he is facing in the Windhoek High Court before Acting Judge Boas Usiku.
His new lawyer Titus Ipumbu who took over from Khadila Amoomo on instructions from the Department of Legal Aid confirmed the pleas as in accordance with his instructions and said Rudolf Goagoseb puts the onus on the State to prove each and every count against him.
The whole of last Friday was taken up by the testimonies of the schoolgirls who may not be named to protect their identities and the media was not allowed to attend as they are still underage.
The State alleges Goagoseb threatened the girls with a broken bottle along a footpath in the bush near Okahandja on September 29, 2010.
He then ordered them to undress and proceeded to put his privates into their mouths, the indictment reads. After he did that he ordered one of the girls to lie down on her back and sexually violated the young girl, it is stated. When he was done with her he allegedly pulled one of the other girls, struck her with a clenched fist on the cheek, forced her to lie down on her back and began to suffocate her and twisted her neck.
He then again forced the first girl to lie down on her back and raped her for the second time. He also struck the third girl on her chest with a clenched fist.
While he was busy violating the first girl for the second time, the other two girls managed to escape and they alerted members of the community who apprehended him.
The incident sent shockwaves through not only the town of Okahandja at the time but throughout the country as well, with calls from some members of the public that the culprit be castrated.
Goagoseb is now facing in the High Court five counts of rape, two counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and one count of attempted murder.
He previously appeared in the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court where he was released on a warning as he was still underage. He is currently in custody in Karibib on an unrelated offence.