12 years in jail for burglar who robbed and raped

A 48-year-old man convicted of breaking into the home of a woman, robbing her of N$20 and then raping her was on Friday jailed for 12 years.

Gert Eckmeyer was charged with counts of housebreaking with intent to rob, robbery and rape in his trial before Magistrate Sarel Jacobs in the Windhoek Regional Court. The trial ended on Friday with Eckmeyer, who has been in Police custody since November 2006, hearing that he is facing a further 12 years behind bars.The charges that Eckmeyer was convicted of date back to November 9 2006. On that day, the home of a 56-year-old woman at farm Blaukrans in the Dordabis area southeast of Windhoek was broken into. The intruder – which was Eckmeyer, the court found – robbed the woman of N$20, and then raped her.Eckmeyer, a father of four children, lived at a neighbouring farm, Hamis, at the time, according to the court record of his case. All three crimes that he was convicted of are serious offences, the Magistrate told Eckmeyer during his sentencing. He commented that housebreaking was a major invasion of the private lives and homes of the victims of this crime, and that the perpetrators of robbery were preying on innocent members of society like parasites.Eckmeyer’s actions were audacious and cowardly, the Magistrate said.Under the Combating of Rape Act, Eckmeyer was in line to be sentenced to a minimum period of 10 years’ imprisonment on the rape charge. Magistrate Jacobs however found that there were substantial and compelling circumstances present in the matter to warrant a deviation from this prescribed minimum sentence.These circumstances include the fact that, as far as the court was informed, Eckmeyer was at the age of 48 a first offender, that he had been in custody since November 2006, and that on the record before the court there was no evidence that the complainant in the matter had suffered emotional damage, he said.Magistrate Jacobs sentenced Eckmeyer to a four-year prison term on the housebreaking charge, a concurrent jail term of three years on the robbery charge, and to eight years’ imprisonment on the rape count.Eckmeyer was represented by defence lawyer Ivo dos Santos. Public Prosecutor Simba Nduna represented the State with the sentencing.werner@namibian.com.na