The courtroom is the first in Namibia to have been structurally changed to shield survivors of sexual crimes from having to come face to face with their alleged attackers when they have to testify against them in court.

Yesterday's inauguration of the court marked another step towards making Namibia's courts less fearsome and intimidating places for witnesses who have to testify over alleged sexual crimes that were committed against them.

A newly-built cubicle has been added to the court, now called a "victim friendly sexual offences" courtroom.

The cubicle is enclosed in one-way glass which would prevent someone giving evidence from the adapted witness stand from being able to see the accused person, or also other persons in court, while the witness would however be visible to the accused person, presiding Magistrate and lawyers involved in the case.

In addition, a waiting room where young witnesses will be able to spend time before being called to the witness stand has also been prepared next to the courtroom.

Toys, colourful furniture and pictures on the walls in the waiting room are intended to set young witnesses at ease by creating a less intimidating environment than the usual, mostly austere and frequently overwhelming settings of courts where victims of sexual offences have up to now had to relate often traumatic events to people who are complete strangers to them.

A similar waiting room is already in use at the Walvis Bay Magistrate's Court building.

At that court, movable screens are also being used in court to prevent witnesses from having to look at persons who are alleged to have committed sexual crimes against them.

At the ceremony marking the inauguration of the refurbished courtroom, Vicki Erenstein ya Toivo, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Attorney General, described the bruising experience that complainants in sexual offence cases more often than not have to go through.

"The role of complainant can be lonely and intimidating.

The complainant enters a new and strange environment in which she or he must stand in a witness box while persons wearing black robes and speaking legalese question or even argue about him or her.

"The trauma of the experience is much more so when the crime about which the complainant must testify is brutal and humiliating to the victim.

Imagine if the complaining witness is a child," she said.

Attorney General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, who gave the keynote address at the event, remarked that with the existing system in which the prosecution and defence contest a case as adversaries, it is almost self-defeating to place a victim of a sexual offence before the offender in the insensitive environment of a courtroom.

Victims who testify in such a setting, where they may face "some stunt of cross-examination", are often left bewildered, perplexed and almost certain that society will tag the blame on them, she commented.

"It is therefore understandable that the courtroom, and especially the witness box, is viewed as an arena for the victim to relive their unbearable moments of victimisation.

Flash back after flash back, it is a prosecutor's worst nightmare when their witness is torn apart and left an emotional wreck, most of the times, for the rest of their lives," said Iivula-Ithana.

The Office of the Prosecutor General has been a prime driving force behind the efforts to turn the country's courts into less disturbing settings for witnesses in sexual cases, and especially for young witnesses.

Acting Prosecutor General John Walters said yesterday: "The manner in which the prosecuting authority treats the victims of crime is a measure not only of its efficacy, but also of its humanity".

The modified courtroom in Katutura is expected to be joined soon by a similarly changed courtroom at the High Court, Judge President Peter Shivute indicated yesterday.

That courtroom - like the one in Katutura - is to be equipped with closed circuit television equipment through which a witness will eventually be able to testify from a completely different and more comforting setting than the court.

Before that, though, a provision in the Criminal Procedure Act - which states that a witness has to testify in the presence of an accused person - will first have to be changed.

Netherlands, through its embassy in Windhoek, provided funding to make the changes to the Katutura courtroom.

Legal Shield Namibia sponsored the furbishing of the waiting room.

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