Self-confessed child rapist Jeremia van Wyk will hear this morning whether he is guilty of the physical rape of a five-year-old child by Windhoek High Court Judge Naomi Shivute, in addition to a charge of abduction.
Van Wyk pleaded guilty to rape, but the State refused to accept his plea because he did not admit all elements of the offence. According to a plea explanation his taxpayer-funded lawyer, Joseph Andreas, entered into the record, he admitted to abducting the child from her daycare centre and taking her to Katutura without her parents’ blessing. He, however, denied that he penetrated her with his male genitalia as he apparently “could not get it up.”
Maryn Swart, a forensic scientist, however, confirmed on Monday that a whitish substance found inside the girl’s private parts was semen from the accused. According to Swart, the substance was analysed and found to contain Van Wyk’s DNA.
State advocate Felisitas Sikerete-Vendura argued during submissions on the verdict to be handed down that his claim of only “fingering” the child is a ploy to get a lighter sentence, although the insertion of any body part into the private parts of a female is considered rape. She said Van Wyk violated an innocent girl in the vilest manner imaginable.
Andreas, for his part, said his client already confessed to the rape, and whether he used a finger or his male genitalia is neither here nor there.
Van Wyk informed the court that he picked up the little girl on the date in question around 13h00 from her school in the area of Khomasdal.
The accused further explained that they walked from the victim’s school to Katutura, where he sexually violated the minor.
Following the sexual violation, he went to drink with his friends while in the company of the victim. It is his testimony that he was highly intoxicated from the drugs and alcohol he had consumed that day.
He further testified that he only realised what he had done after the effects of the drugs and alcohol started to wear off. The police arrested Van Wyk on 1 August 2019, after he was found in the company of a five-year-old girl who was reported to have gone missing from school earlier in the day.
The girl’s picture went viral that day on social media, with a short description that she was missing. Police reports at the time indicated that a member of the public recognised the minor, and reported it to the police. Prior to his arrest, he was released from a correctional facility nearly three years ago, having served a sentence for rape and murder.
Van Wyk remains in custody at the Windhoek Correctional Facility’s section for trial-awaiting inmates.