Convicted rapist, robber sent for mental check-up

A man convicted of a series of rapes and robberies committed at Gobabis will have to go through a period of psychiatric evaluation before his trial can continue in the Windhoek High Court.

This is after defence lawyer Eliaser Shiikwa informed judge Dinna Usiku yesterday that his client, Richard Kennedy Haoseb (28), has been treated for mental illness and diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Shiikwa asked the judge to order that Haoseb should undergo a period of psychiatric evaluation to establish if he had a mental illness or mental defect at the time the crimes he was convicted of were committed.

Usiku made an order that an enquiry should be made into Haoseb’s mental health history and a report provided to the court.

Shiikwa told the judge it had come to his attention, while he was preparing for a pre-sentence hearing in Haoseb’s case, that Haoseb is being treated for mental illness and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

According to entries in Haoseb’s health passport, he has reported that he hears voices and sees people holding guns and knives, and that he has been hearing voices since he was seven years old.

Usiku found Haoseb guilty on 12 charges near the end of March this year.

The charges include five counts of rape, two counts of housebreaking and robbery, and four charges of robbery.

The state alleged that Haoseb broke into a house at Gobabis during night-time on 2 December 2015, threatened three women inside the house with a knife, and raped and robbed two of the women. The third woman, who was pregnant, was spared.

The state also alleged that he held a woman at knifepoint at Gobabis on 21 December 2017, robbed her of her cellphone and raped her. That incident happened during the day.

Usiku convicted Haoseb on a charge of housebreaking and robbery, three counts of rape and three charges of robbery in connection with those two incidents.

The state further alleged that Haoseb again broke into a house at Gobabis on 22 December 2017, threatened a 17-year-old girl inside with a knife, and robbed and raped her.

It was alleged as well that on the same night, Haoseb kidnapped a woman while threatening her with a knife, and then raped her.

Usiku found Haoseb guilty on two counts of rape and charges of housebreaking and robbery, kidnapping and robbery in connection with those two incidents.

In her judgement, Usiku noted that most of the rapes Haoseb was accused of were committed in an almost similar fashion, with someone breaking into a house, meeting his victims, threatening them with a knife, demanding intercourse from them and robbing them before disappearing from the scene.

The “odd coincidences” between the incidents are too weighty to be ignored, Usiku remarked.

She also noted that the woman raped during the incident on 21 December 2017 thereafter pointed Haoseb out at a police identification parade.

After he had been positively identified, Haoseb decided not to continue to take part in the identification parade, in which another alleged victim was still set to participate.

Usiku stated in her judgement: “In my view, the only reasonable inference to be drawn from [Haoseb’s] unwillingness to continue with the identification parade is that he knew that other witnesses were going to positively identify him as their attacker. He, therefore, feared to be identified and abandoned the parade.”

Having been referred for psychiatric evaluation, Haoseb has to appear in court again on 1 July.

State advocate Palmer Kumalo is representing the prosecution.

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