18-year jail term given for rape of 80-year-old woman

TO the end, 30-year-old Okahandja resident Verikaye Kapuire claimed yesterday that he was not guilty of raping an 80-year-old woman when he violently had sexual intercourse with her in her house in May last year.

Windhoek Regional Court Magistrate Dinnah Usiku convicted Kapuire of rape and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm yesterday. Kapuire’s trial then concluded with Magistrate Usiku sentencing him to an effective 18 years’ imprisonment – made up of a 17-year jail term on a charge of rape and a further year behind bars on the assault charge. The Magistrate ordered that the two sentences should be served consecutively.’Since the day when I was arrested until today I’ve been saying I’m not guilty,’ Kapuire told the Magistrate after she asked him how he felt about the crimes.Kapuire showed no remorse throughout his trial, the Magistrate noted during the sentencing.Kapuire was accused of raping an elderly Okahandja resident in her house on May 18 last year.He admitted that he had intercourse with the woman – who turned 81 years of age four months after the incident – but claimed that, despite the fact that she was more than 51 years his senior and was left bleeding and injured after the encounter, the intercourse had been consensual.Kapuire’s explanation ‘leaves a lot to be desired’, Magistrate Usiku commented. ‘His defence is so improbable that no reasonable court will be persuaded to believe it is the truth,’ she said.She recounted that the complainant, who was the first witness to testify, told the court that she had spotted a snake in a tree in her yard. She decided to ask someone passing by on the street in front of her house to help her get rid of it. This turned out to be Kapuire.The snake was gone, though, when they looked for it. She then decided to give Kapuire a packet of meat to thank him for his help. He followed her into her house, and when she gave him the meat, he put it down in her kitchen and punched her on her chest.He then forced her to her bedroom where he raped her on her bed, she testified. He also hit her with the stick of an umbrella, tied her hands and feet and left the house with her bank card, she said. He later returned and untied her, before leaving again. She then phoned for help.She had open wounds on her arms and legs and injuries to her private parts when she was examined by a doctor after the incident.Her bed was found smeared with blood, while bloodstains were also found on a carpet in her room and between the room and her kitchen.Kapuire however claimed that he got the impression that the woman wanted to have intercourse with him when she started undressing in front of him in her bedroom. He did not tell the court that she had expressly told him that or had invited him to have intercourse with her, Magistrate Usiku noted in her judgement.Kapuire also denied having assaulted her.The manner in which she was assaulted, the injuries she sustained and the bloodied state of her house, which was found in disarray, did not accord with his claim of having had consensual sex with the woman, Magistrate Usiku commented.’The photos tell of a sadist whose sense of humanity escaped him,’ she told Kapuire during the sentencing. ‘In addition, the evidence shows an act of brutality of grave proportions.’The Magistrate told Kapuire that he had attacked a helpless and elderly woman.It was the duty of the court to send out a clear and unambiguous message that crimes involving violence would not be tolerated, especially when these are directed at elderly people, she said.Kapuire stood trial without legal representation, after he chose before the trial to conduct his own defence. Public Prosecutor OJ Lino prosecuted.