7-year-old tried to seduce me, claims rape suspect

A YOUNG Swakopmund resident who claimed he was the victim of seduction by a seven-year-old girl was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty under the Combating of Immoral Practices Act in the Swakopmund Regional Court last week.

The 20-year-old Nelson Haimbodi stood trial before Magistrate Gert Retief on a charge of rape. It was alleged that Haimbodi had raped a seven-year-old girl at the house where he was living at Swakopmund’s Mondesa residential area on February 3 2005.During the trial, the Magistrate heard that Haimbodi called the girl to help with some housework on the day of the alleged incident.The girl claimed that he then took off her underwear and put her on his lap.Her 17-year-old brother found the girl sitting on Haimbodi’s lap, and told their mother about this, the court was told.According to Haimbodi, though, the girl returned without her underwear after she had gone to the toilet.She then came to sit on his lap in an apparent attempt to seduce him, he claimed.He told the court that it was not the first time that the child had tried to seduce him.With no proof that sexual penetration had taken place, Magistrate Retief convicted Haimbodi under a section of the 1980 Combating Immoral Practices Act,which criminalises any attempt to have unlawful sexual intercourse or to commit “an immoral or indecent act” with a girl under the age of 16, or any attempt to entice a girl under 16 to commit an immoral or indecent act.A contravention of that section of the law can result in a sentence of up to six years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to N$3 000, the Act states.Magistrate Retief decided to sentence Haimbodi to five years’ imprisonment.Haimbodi, who was free on bail while the charge against him remained pending, stood trial without legal representation.Public Prosecutor Tania Tait presented the State’s case against him to he court.It was alleged that Haimbodi had raped a seven-year-old girl at the house where he was living at Swakopmund’s Mondesa residential area on February 3 2005.During the trial, the Magistrate heard that Haimbodi called the girl to help with some housework on the day of the alleged incident.The girl claimed that he then took off her underwear and put her on his lap.Her 17-year-old brother found the girl sitting on Haimbodi’s lap, and told their mother about this, the court was told.According to Haimbodi, though, the girl returned without her underwear after she had gone to the toilet.She then came to sit on his lap in an apparent attempt to seduce him, he claimed.He told the court that it was not the first time that the child had tried to seduce him.With no proof that sexual penetration had taken place, Magistrate Retief convicted Haimbodi under a section of the 1980 Combating Immoral Practices Act,which criminalises any attempt to have unlawful sexual intercourse or to commit “an immoral or indecent act” with a girl under the age of 16, or any attempt to entice a girl under 16 to commit an immoral or indecent act.A contravention of that section of the law can result in a sentence of up to six years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to N$3 000, the Act states.Magistrate Retief decided to sentence Haimbodi to five years’ imprisonment.Haimbodi, who was free on bail while the charge against him remained pending, stood trial without legal representation.Public Prosecutor Tania Tait presented the State’s case against him to he court.