WINDHOEK – The Windhoek Regional Court last week provisionally withdrew a case of a man accused of raping, genitally defiling and mutilating a 10-year-old girl last year.
This is in order to formulate a stronger case that will be sent to the High Court, it was revealed.
The accused, Gewen Gawanab, who is alleged to be a predator of minor children, currently has seven cases of rape against him on the court roll. According to state prosecutor Fillemon Nyau, the prosecutor general instructed the investigating officer to compile all the cases that Gawanab is facing in order for him to be prosecuted in the High Court.
Consequently, Magistrate Alexis Diegaardt temporarily withdrew the case against him and refunded his N$2000 bail money back to the depositor.
The father of two, made headlines last year when he was arrested for allegedly raping a 10-year-old girl on October 26, 2018, in Havana, Windhoek.
According to police reports at the time, Gawanab cut the 10-year-old girl’s genitals before he violently defiled her along the Daan Viljoen road where the children were walking towards farm Satan Logh. It is alleged that after committing the gruesome act, he fled into the mountains. Gawanab, an alleged serial rapist, was on bail of N$1500 in another criminal case when he committed the alleged offense. It is alleged that he was released from police custody in connection with a rape that also happened in Havana in 2017 three months prior.
Gawanab was arrested in September 2015 for raping his niece who was six years old at the time, in Havana. The case was transferred to the regional court. The accused was out on bail for this case as well.
According to court records, one case was temporarily withdrawn because of the repeated absenteeism of the complainant. Another one was provisionally withdrawn due to incomplete police investigations.
Gawanab is currently in police custody after having been refused bail for his most recent case.