KEETMANSHOOP – The Mariental Regional Court on Friday sentenced a 33-year-old man to 15 years imprisonment for the rape of an elderly woman.
Johannes Kangango, who is from the Gochas settlement, was sentenced by Magistrate Stanley Tembwe at the end of his trial.
Kangango was convicted of raping the victim who was 84 years old when the incident happened in February 2019. According to court documents seen by Nampa, Kangango raped the elder in her house at the settlement.
When Kangango was charged with a single offence of contravening 1 and 2 of the Combating of Rape Act, Act 8 of 2000, with a count of rape, he pleaded not guilty to the charge. He remained silent and no plea explanation was furnished to the court. Handing down his judgement, Tembwe said the offence Kangango faced was serious and violated the victim’s right to human dignity, citing that the complainant would endure trauma for the rest of the remainder of her life, which is disturbing as
she is likely to be traumatised in her old age, a situation any person would not like to endure especially in their old age.
“What makes the current case more serious is that the accused raped a vulnerable member of the society, an old woman aged 84 years, and this fact is terribly disturbing. The accused unleashed his sexual desires on a defenceless old woman with an advanced age,” said Tembwe.
He added: “As regards to the interests of the society, this court takes judicial notice of the fact that the courts are flooded with numerous rape cases involving women and minors, which at present shows no signs of abating. The society expects the courts of law to impose stiffer sentences in order to deter would-be offenders.”
The magistrate said the court
took into consideration that
Kangango was a first-time offender, that he is the caregiver of his younger brother as their parents are deceased and that he has been in police cells since his arrest in 2019.
The State was represented by Loide Nghixulifwa and called three witnesses to the stand, while legal aid lawyer Cliff Simataa represented Kangango during his trial.
- Nampa