Forensic tests conducted on a placenta of a minor rape victim revealed that her biological father, who is accused of committing the incest, fathered her baby.
A DNA expert yesterday testified in the Windhoek High Court before Judge Claudia Claasen that 99.9% of the test outcome showed the biological father impregnated the daughter.
Maryn Swart, previously with the National Forensic Science Institute, testified in the rape, incest, sodomy and inducement of abortion trial of a Windhoek resident who is accused of raping his biological daughter several times and forcing her to abort the fetus after impregnating her.
According to Swart, swabs taken from the man, his daughter and the placenta of her child proved beyond doubt that the placenta is the result of two people that share DNA of at least 12 points, which in turn proves that the donors of the cells are father and daughter.
The man, who may not be named to protect the identity of his alleged victim, pleaded not guilty before Claasen when his trial started late last year after several delays. He is facing three counts of rape, alternatively incest, three counts of child trafficking and two counts of assault by threat.
The State is also alleging that the accused repeatedly raped his biological daughter, impregnated her and then forced her to have an abortion.
The abortion allegedly took place when the victim accompanied him during one of his various trips to Angola between 2010 and 2011.
The alleged rapes were also perpetrated while the victim accompanied the accused on his trips and once during a family holiday in Swakopmund.
After his arrest, the accused undertook a lengthy bail application, which eventually saw him being released on bail in July 2014. It was during that bail application that it was alleged in court that he made his daughter his wife.
The accused, during cross-examination, questioned whether the victim was his biological child.
The present matter was provisionally withdrawn in 2015 after the prosecutor general failed to decide in time on what charges and in which court to prosecute him. Magistrate Justine Asino struck the matter from the court roll and refunded his bail money of
N$25 000.
It was during his release from custody that he carried out a daylight robbery and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, of which five years were suspended.
He was convicted of robbery with aggravating circumstances for an incident that took place in Khomasdal in Windhoek on 22 October 2015, when three people were robbed at gunpoint after they had bought liquor stock valued at N$30 821 for a bar in Khomasdal.
The current matter was re-enrolled last year after the prosecutor general decided to charge him in the Windhoek High Court.
The accused is represented by Jermaine Muchali on instructions of the Department of Legal Aid and the prosecution by Palmer Khumalo.
– rrouth@nepc.com.na