The prosecutor general has decided to have a 42-year-old man accused of sexually violating his 14-year-old daughter several times, and forcing her to abort, stand trial in the Windhoek High Court. The accused’s trial was scheduled to commence in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday. However, due to the gravity of the charges, the prosecutor general had a change of heart. The accused, who cannot be named so as to protect the identity of the minor victim, will stand trial on 35 different counts of rape, incest, abortion and assault by threat.
He is expected to make his first appearance in the high court on 20 April. The accused, who is currently in police custody, was arrested on 22 September 2020 after the mother of the complainant reported the matter upon discovering explicit messages from the accused on the complainant’s phone.
The prosecution is alleging that the accused raped his
14-year-old daughter on several occasions between 2018 to 2020. The State claims that the accused would call the complainant, and force and threaten her to perform sexual acts on him.
According to the victim’s statement, he would pick her up from her mother’s home or school, and would drive her to the aunt’s (the accused’s sister’s) home, where the sexual acts would be performed. She stated that at other times, the acts were performed in the car. It is alleged that between September 2019 and August 2020, the accused forced his daughter to have abortions.
The accused threatened to shoot and kill the complainant with his gun should she ever report the matter.
During his failed bail application, the accused denied any wrongdoing, and indicated that the State does not have a strong case against him. Thus, he claimed that he has a high prospect of being acquitted at trial. The accused is represented by Joseph Andreas, while Emma Mayavero is prosecuting for the State.