The trial of a man who is accused robbing and preying on lone women in the Windhoek’s informal settlement of Goreangab area was postponed by Katutura Magistrate’s Court last week. 
Appearing before Magistrate Cosmos Endjala, Fillipus Hamutenya was informed that his trial will only start on 27 October, as the State was not ready to proceed.

Hamutenya is scheduled to be tried on one count of possession of suspected stolen goods. 
Although he is suspected of rape, there is currently no case opened against him, according to the police.
Hamutenya was arrested on 3 August 2019, after he had allegedly broken into a shack where a couple was sleeping in Goreangab location. 

He allegedly tied up and blindfolded the man. 
Thereafter, he proceeded to tie the woman and sexually violated her.
Members of the public followed the suspect to his shack, where they brutally assaulted him. 
They said they were tired of his crimes. 

The residents who identified their stolen goods found in Hamutenya’s shack proceeded to remove all their stolen items and laid them outside. 
They then meted out a mob justice before they called the police to arrest him. 
The suspect was allegedly brutally beaten up– and at the time, a citizen’s arrest was made before he was handed over to the police. He was later hospitalised due to the injuries.

A video of the suspect brutally beaten by the mob went viral on social media. 
In the video, the suspect could be seen badly bruised and finding it very hard to stand and walk by himself. It is alleged Hamutenya, who is well known to the community, would force his way into shacks, force his victims to cook food for him and then rape them before stealing from them.

According to the police at the time, although there are currently four to five cases of rape reported, the suspect cannot be linked to them yet and police investigations are still underway.
- mamakali@nepc.com.na