Maria Amakali

The Windhoek High Court has granted leave to a man, who was convicted of raping and violently robbing an elderly couple in Uis, to appeal his 57 years imprisonment in the Supreme Court.
On Friday, acting Judge Kobus Miller ruled there is a reasonable prospect that a different court may come to a different conclusion on the sentence imposed it should run concurrently since the various counts stem from a single course of conduct.
“However, I am persuaded that there is no reasonable prospect of success on the appeal on the grounds advanced in respect of conviction,” said Miller. 

He further added there was enough circumstantial evidence that compelled the court to convict Charles Namiseb. 
Last year, Judge Alfred Siboleka sentenced the first-time offender, Namiseb (37), to serve 15 years on each of the three counts of rape and 12 years on a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances. 
 The two counts of assault with intent to do bodily harm are taken together for the purpose of sentencing with six years imprisonment.
The sentence imposed on two counts of assault will run concurrently with the sentence of robbery, totalling 57 years for Namiseb to serve in prison. 
The court ruled that Namiseb’s sentence should be stiffer than that of his co-accused Edwin Tourob (34), who was sentenced to an effective 53 years imprisonment in May 2016. 

At the time, Siboleka said Namiseb’s actions on the date in question were driven by mere greed, as he was a businessman, who owned a plumbing company and was the mastermind behind the violent attack.

All charges on which Namiseb was convicted stem from the attack that occurred on 3 October 2010 in the Uis settlement of Erongo region.

Namiseb and Tourob attacked a 72-year-old man and his 69-year-old wife. 

The couple was seriously injured when the two men attacked them with a spade and tied them in their home.

The woman was raped three times, sustaining serious bodily injuries. 

After the gruesome attack on the couple, the pair robbed them of their two firearms, jewellery, money and a car, all valued at N$78 900.

 Having been in lawful custody for six years, Namiseb escaped from the Windhoek police station holding cells in March 2016, but he was re-arrested in South Africa in May 2017. 

 He was extradited to Namibia in July 2017. 

In his application, through his lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji, he now claims the judge was wrong when he concluded it was he who attacked and robbed the elderly couple.

He claims the judge was wrong when he concluded Namiseb committed a robbery, as he was never positively identified by either complainant and that he was never found in possession of any of the items stolen from the house of the complainants.

Furthermore, Namiseb claimed, no fingerprints or DNA that belong to him were found either on the scene or in the motor vehicle.

 According to him, the DNA that was found was so contaminated that it was of no use.

- mamakali@nepc.com.na