A 52-year-old Windhoek resident who confessed to abducting, kidnapping and raping a five-year-old minor is currently without a lawyer.
Appearing before High Court Judge Christie Liebenberg yesterday, Jeremia van Wyk informed the court that he could not get the assistance he needed for him to apply for a State-funded lawyer to represent him for his upcoming trial. Liebenberg indicated that the responsibility to assist and transport Van Wyk as a trial-awaiting inmate lies with the police, and not with the correctional officers.
Hence, he ordered the investigating officer to assist Van Wyk by taking him to the Directorate of Legal Aid to fill out his application. The court then postponed the case to 20 January 2022 for legal aid.
The prosecution is charging Van Wyk with a count of rape, abduction, and an alternative count of kidnapping.
He was arrested on 1 August 2019 after he was found in the company of a minor girl who was reported missing from school.
During his first appearance in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court, Van Wyk confessed that he picked up the little girl on the date in question around 13h00 from her school in the area of Khomasdal, Windhoek.
The accused further explained that they walked from the victim’s school to Katutura, where he sexually violated the minor. He gave graphic and descriptive details of what he had done to 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 to the police. According to the police, prior to his arrest, Van Wyk was released from a correctional facility nearly three years ago after having served a sentence on charges of rape and murder. -mamakali@nepc.com.na