Auleria Wakudumo
ONDANGWA – The Ondangwa Regional Court slapped Julius Shinyama with a 40-year prison sentence after being convicted of raping his biological daughter five years ago.
The court found out that Shinyama raped his daughter on two different occasions in 2020 and impregnated her. A baby whose gender was not revealed was born but died as a toddler in a fire incident.
Last Friday, Magistrate Ruben Hamunyera sentenced Shinyama to jail time on each one of the two counts of rape. The two sentences will, however, run concurrently, meaning that he will only spend 20 years in prison. This was done according to Section 280 (2) of 51 of 1977 – according to the court documents.
During his sentencing, Hamunyera said the accused person showed “no iota of remorse”. Instead, he contended that he did not rape the victim throughout the court proceedings and claimed that he did not understand why a sentence had to be imposed when he did not do anything.
The magistrate added that although the court “considered the personal circumstances of the accused person and other factors placed on record, there is nothing placed on record that can be considered to be substantial and compelling for the court to deviate from the mandatory minimum sentences.”
Two witnesses who testified in favour of Shinyama pleaded with the court to take into account that he had a lot of responsibilities. He recently got employment and has around 10 children. He is married and the wife is unemployed. The accused also has livestock, and he has employees that he pays,” the document reads.
State witnesses on the other hand testified that Shinyama’s action had led to the victim living an unhappy life and caused her to drop out of school.
They said she had to move out of her community as she was stigmatised and labelled as someone who slept with the man who slept with her mother.
Chaly Iiyambo prosecuted for the State while Shinyama stood in self-defence.