A security guard took the witness stand yesterday before Windhoek High Court acting Judge Kobus Miller in the rape case of former magistrate Jaco Kennedy and his cousin Ray Cloete.

Joseph Kandjimi Nzamune testified that he caught the former magistrate in the act of sexually violating a 43-year-old woman in a vehicle near Katutura State Hospital in 2015.

Nzamune said he was on duty on 3 January 2015 as a security supervisor for Katutura Hospital and the nurses’ training centre. 

He said that while on his way to the training centre, he heard a woman screaming but continued walking to the guards stationed at the incinerator near the hospital. He allegedly asked the guards stationed there if they also heard the screams. 

Nzamune said they confirmed, and he decided to investigate, but then changed his mind and called the police instead. 

According to him, it was not long before the police arrived and together, they went towards the place where he heard the screams. 

He said he observed a silver VW Polo in the bushes about 50m from the road and together with the police officers approached the car from different directions. 

When they arrived at the car, Nzamune said, they saw a man having intercourse with a lady and another one trying to force his “manhood” into her mouth while she was resisting. 

He identified the man who had intercourse as Kennedy while he identified Cloete as the other man. Nzamune further testified that music was blaring so loud from the car that the occupants did not hear when the police announced their arrival. 

According to Nzamune, the police had to identify themselves three times and tap Kennedy on his shoulder before he became aware of their presence.

The witness further narrated that Kennedy’s pants were drawn down to his buttocks, while Cloete was half naked and the lady’s dress was hiked up around her waist. 

When the police instructed Kennedy to stay where he was, he allegedly pulled up his pants and wielded a knife in his hand. 

One of the officers then kicked Kennedy off his feet and fell, letting go of the knife in the process, Nzamune testified.

He further said the police struggled to handcuff Kennedy and they had to call reinforcements before finally putting him in handcuffs. 

Kennedy, however, denied having had intercourse with the complainant but did say he and Cloete had a sexual conversation with her and he gave her N$200 to have sex with them, and thus it is not rape. 

Kennedy and Cloete were granted bail of N$3 000 in the magistrate’s court on that charge. 

He was again arrested for allegedly raping a 20-year-old woman in the early morning hours of 31 December 2017 in Otjomuise. 

He is disputing the allegation, saying he never gave anyone a lift anywhere on that morning nor does he know the complainant. 

This complainant, however, testified in opposition to bail in the magistrate’s court that Kennedy raped her after he offered her a lift to her workplace. 

Kennedy, who remains in custody after the second alleged rape, is represented by Boris Isaacks and Cloete by Milton Engelbrecht on instructions of Legal Aid. 

The State is represented by deputy prosecutor general Innocencia Nyoni.

- rrouth@nepc.com.na