Child rape, murder case shifted to Windhoek

THE man charged with the abduction, murder and rape of a six-year-old girl from Swakopmund will appear in the High Court in Windhoek next month.

The brutal murder of little Rachel Hamutundu in January caused an emotional outcry countrywide and resulted in several marches protesting abuse against women and children. Willem Cornelius Louw (30) was told in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s court yesterday the Prosecutor-General had referred the case to the High Court in Windhoek for July 8 for a pre-trial.Another charge of indecent assault was combined with the three charges for the High Court.Louw allegedly assaulted a small child younger than two years old on the same day of the murder.He allegedly saw the toddler playing, called her over and put her on his lap.The Police report that he allegedly put his hand inside her panties and started “fondling” her until a woman saw it and asked what he was doing.Louw pleaded guilty to the first three charges during his first court appearance in February after confessing to raping and killing Rachel Hamutundu.He said at the time: ” I beat and killed her because I also stay at the flat and she was going to tell that I was the person who raped her.”Hamutundu’s body was found at the town’s sewage works after she went missing from her home on January 31.Her face had been mutilated.Louw had a flat in the same Municipal block at Tamariskia where Hamutundu lived with her father.He confessed that she knew him and obliged when he asked her on the fateful night to walk with him.He took her to the nearby sewage dam, where he raped her.She was crying and he hit her face against a pillar.”I hit her at least four times, ” he told the court.Louw requested to be transferred to the Arandis Police cells after his first appearance in court because of death threats from fellow inmates.Willem Cornelius Louw (30) was told in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s court yesterday the Prosecutor-General had referred the case to the High Court in Windhoek for July 8 for a pre-trial.Another charge of indecent assault was combined with the three charges for the High Court.Louw allegedly assaulted a small child younger than two years old on the same day of the murder.He allegedly saw the toddler playing, called her over and put her on his lap.The Police report that he allegedly put his hand inside her panties and started “fondling” her until a woman saw it and asked what he was doing.Louw pleaded guilty to the first three charges during his first court appearance in February after confessing to raping and killing Rachel Hamutundu.He said at the time: ” I beat and killed her because I also stay at the flat and she was going to tell that I was the person who raped her.”Hamutundu’s body was found at the town’s sewage works after she went missing from her home on January 31.Her face had been mutilated.Louw had a flat in the same Municipal block at Tamariskia where Hamutundu lived with her father.He confessed that she knew him and obliged when he asked her on the fateful night to walk with him.He took her to the nearby sewage dam, where he raped her.She was crying and he hit her face against a pillar.”I hit her at least four times, ” he told the court.Louw requested to be transferred to the Arandis Police cells after his first appearance in court because of death threats from fellow inmates.