WINDHOEK – A resident of Witvlei in the Omaheke Region last Thursday denied all charges laid against him in the Windhoek High Court when he appeared before Judge Christi Liebenberg.
Dawid Doeseb pleaded on charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and two counts of rape.
After Deputy Prosecutor General Karin Esterhuizen read out the charges, he replied, through an interpreter, that he is not guilty.
His State-funded lawyer Trevor Brockerhoff informed the court the pleas are according to his instructions and his client denies being at the place where the alleged rape took place.
However, two witnesses already positively identified Doeseb, as the person who grabbed the complainant from behind and carried her into some bushes where he and an unknown person took turns to rape her.
The complainant herself testified she knows Doeseb very well, as he is a family friend and used to work with her mother.
She said on that night, she met up with some friends and they consumed some liquor, but she was however not drunk.
She said she and her friend later decided to go to the house of her boyfriend and on the way a person grabbed her from behind.
“There was light there and I could see his face clearly,” she told the court before pointing to Doeseb as the man who grabbed her.
According to the complainant, she was screaming and wrestling to get free, but was hit in the eye with such force that she almost lost consciousness.
“It just went dark,” she told the court and added after being punched on the eye, Doeseb and another man who joined them proceeded to kick her all over her body.
They also threw sand in her eyes and mouth the complainant said, which forced her to close her eyes and hence was unable to see who the other person was.
The two then took turns to rape her while the other held her legs open, she said.
When they were finished, they walked in the direction of a nearby fire, which gave her the opportunity to run away, the woman testified.
She further said on her arrival at her house, her grandmother wanted to know where she was and she informed her that she was raped after which she went to sleep.
When asked why she did not immediately report the matter to the police, she said she was scared because she knew the identity of her attacker and her body was sore.
She, however, reported the matter to the police the next morning with her mother and grandmother, she said.
According to the indictment, Doeseb allegedly assaulted the complainant and raped her near Omatatu Location at Witvlei in the Gobabis District on August 13, 2013. The second rape charge is because he allegedly assisted an unknown person to rape the 25-year-old complainant.
The case continues and Doeseb is on bail.