Amadhila to be tried in High Court for rape

PROMINENT northern Namibia businessman Onesmus Tobias Amadhila is set to stand trial in the High Court on three charges related to allegations that he raped a female relative.

The 44-year-old Amadhila was informed in the Outapi Magistrate’s Court on Thursday that the Prosecutor General has instructed that he be indicted in the High Court in Windhoek. The PG has directed that he should face charges of rape, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and attempted rape when he goes on trial in the High Court, Amadhila was informed further.Amadhila has to make a first appearance in the High Court on September 20.He was arrested on Thursday.He made a first appearance before Magistrate Leena Iiyambo in the Outapi Magistrate’s Court the same day, when Public Prosecutor Tatelo Lusepani asked that his case be transferred to the High Court for trial.Amadhila did not have legal representation during his first court appearance, but he told the Magistrate that he would be represented by Windhoek lawyer Sisa Namandje.It was through Namandje’s law firm that a media statement was issued on Amadhila’s behalf in late July last year in reaction to a report in a free fortnightly newspaper about claims that he tried to bribe a complainant who was accusing him of rape, and also tried to pay off her mother, to get them to withdraw a charge that had been laid against him.In the statement, Namandje termed the allegations against Amadhila false and “devoid of any merit”.Those were allegations in which Amadhila was accused of raping the young woman, who was claimed to be a relative of his, and also accused of offering the complainant N$50 000 and her mother N$20 000 in an effort to try to smother the case.Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa told The Namibian in early November last year that she was still studying the docket on the Police’s investigation of the charges that had been laid, before she took a decision on whether or not there was sufficient evidence to charge him.Amadhila is free on bail of N$7 000, which was granted to him on Thursday.Magistrate Iiyambo warned him that he is not allowed to have any communication with the two complainants in his case, and that he may not interfere with any State witnesses while free on bail.The PG has directed that he should face charges of rape, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and attempted rape when he goes on trial in the High Court, Amadhila was informed further.Amadhila has to make a first appearance in the High Court on September 20.He was arrested on Thursday.He made a first appearance before Magistrate Leena Iiyambo in the Outapi Magistrate’s Court the same day, when Public Prosecutor Tatelo Lusepani asked that his case be transferred to the High Court for trial.Amadhila did not have legal representation during his first court appearance, but he told the Magistrate that he would be represented by Windhoek lawyer Sisa Namandje.It was through Namandje’s law firm that a media statement was issued on Amadhila’s behalf in late July last year in reaction to a report in a free fortnightly newspaper about claims that he tried to bribe a complainant who was accusing him of rape, and also tried to pay off her mother, to get them to withdraw a charge that had been laid against him. In the statement, Namandje termed the allegations against Amadhila false and “devoid of any merit”.Those were allegations in which Amadhila was accused of raping the young woman, who was claimed to be a relative of his, and also accused of offering the complainant N$50 000 and her mother N$20 000 in an effort to try to smother the case.Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa told The Namibian in early November last year that she was still studying the docket on the Police’s investigation of the charges that had been laid, before she took a decision on whether or not there was sufficient evidence to charge him.Amadhila is free on bail of N$7 000, which was granted to him on Thursday.Magistrate Iiyambo warned him that he is not allowed to have any communication with the two complainants in his case, and that he may not interfere with any State witnesses while free on bail.