A public prosecutor stationed at Mariental was exonerated on a charge of rape on a section 174 application. Regional Magistrate Stanley Tembwe granted the application lodged by prominent criminal defence lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji on behalf of public prosecutor Romeo Goagoseb.
Goagoseb was accused of having had sexual relations with a woman in Mariental without her consent on 27 October 2022. While the charge sheet is not clear on what happened, the accused explained that the charge was because he had laid a charge of assault against her for slapping him twice, as well as for hitting him with a glass on his head.
The charge against the accused is that he inserted his finger in her private parts, and that is the reason she slapped him. However, the magistrate stated that nowhere in the charge sheet is there any mention of “fingering,” and that the allegations are not supported by evidence before the court.
Magistrate Tembwe found that there is no credible evidence presented by either the complainant or the State that Goagoseb indeed touched the complainant indiscriminately. In fact, he said, the evidence presented at court, coupled with all surrounding circumstances, there is a high possibility that the evidence of the complainant was fabricated because he opened a case against her. The other conclusion, he said, is that the rape allegation against the accused is merely retaliation for the fact that he opened a case against her. This conclusion is gleaned from the fact that she only opened the rape case upon her arrest, the magistrate stated. “It was a matter of you got me arrested, so now I will get you arrested,” Magistrate Tembwe said. He further said that he carefully considered the evidence of the complainant, as she was a single witness to the alleged act of fingering, and his only conclusion was that it was a fabrication. Based on the facts of the case and the conclusions reached, there is no prima facie case against Goagoseb, and the case stands to be dismissed, the magistrate found, and he exonerated Goagoseb on all charges.