Windhoek
A man who was sentenced for taking part in a gang rape, wants to appeal against his sentence of seven years.
Kahijambua Kamuingona, 23, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on four counts of rape on March 29 2015 in the High Court.
He is one of four men convicted of gang-raping a teenage girl at the Okakarara Senior Secondary School hostel in May 2008.
This week, Kamuingona returned to the Windhoek High Court with an application, asking the court to be allowed leave to appeal his conviction.
The three others in the case are Johnson Matundu, 24; Uazenga Tjamuaha, 22; and Utjatae Mureti, 23.
All four were sentenced by Judge Nate Ndauendapo on March 29 last year after he found them guilty on August 15
2014.
Mureti was also sentenced to a total of seven years imprisonment on four counts of rape. Matundu and Tjamuaha were both sent to jail for an effective eight years on six counts of rape each.
Kamuingona is arguing that there was some misdirection by the court when judgement was handed down in the matter. He is arguing that another court may come up with a different conclusion once he is allowed leave to appeal his conviction in that court.
Kamuingona’s Stateinstructed defence lawyer Brownell Uirab said his client wants another court to re-look
the totality of the evidence presented by the complainant, as well as evidence provided by some of the State witnesses
during the trial because there were allegedly numerous inconsistencies and contradictions in their evidence.
Deputy Prosecutor-General Karin-Ann Esterhuizen in her response said Kamuingona’s application does not meet the
requirements for the appellant to be allowed leave to appeal his conviction in another court.
After hearing submissions from the state and the defence lawyer, presiding Judge Ndauendapo reserved his ruling on the application. The judge said that state and the defence will be informed by the Registrar of the High Court about the date when judgement will be handed down.
The four men were convicted of gang-raping a fellow learner at Okakarara Secondary School when they were 16 years of age or younger and in grades 9 and 10.
Last year during sentencing, Judge Ndauendapo remarked that what makes their crime heinous is the fact that the complainant was repeatedly gangraped by the accused who were her fellow learners. “The victim was defenceless against the four accused and despite her plea(s) for them to stop they continued raping her, taking turns,” the
judge said then.
The judge further said that although the rape victim did not suffer physical injuries, the psychological harm was still visible when she testified in court. She was barely 17 at the time when her dignity and womanhood
were violated by the perpetrators, he stressed.