A CUBAN medical doctor arrested and charged with rape last week says he had a consensual sexual encounter with the colleague who laid a charge against him, a defence lawyer indicated in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Kadhila Amoomo, defence lawyer of Cuban doctor Pedro Luis Viera, made the statement regarding his client’s version about the event that led to his arrest while questioning a police officer, sergeant Rosalia Haindongo, during the hearing of an application by Viera to be released on bail.
Viera (47) was arrested on Tuesday last week and made a first court appearance on a charge of rape the next day.
In the charge he is facing at this stage the state is alleging that he raped a woman on 5 December by having intercourse with her while applying physical force against her.
The complainant in the matter is a fellow doctor who was working with Viera in Windhoek.
In a brief statement filed at the court, the complainant has objected to the granting of bail to Viera. She says in the statement that he not only forced himself on her but also threatened her and followed her at her workplace. “I am really scared,” she said.
Haindongo testified after magistrate Gerrit van Pletzen insisted on Friday that he wanted to have more information about the circumstances in which the incident that led to Viera’s arrest allegedly took place.
She told the court that according to the complainant she was at her flat at the doctors’ quarters in Windhoek when Viera and a friend knocked at her door at about 18h00 on 5 December. In a statement that she made to the police, the complainant said she let Viera, who was carrying a bag with a bottle of alcohol in it, and his friend into her flat.
The two visitors left later, but Viera returned after a short while, Haindongo told the court. She said, according to the complainant, he asked her why she did not want to have a relationship with him, started to kiss her, and did not heed her protests and her saying that she had to go to work.
The complainant reported to the police that Viera raped her, and afterwards threatened her, telling her he would make her life a living hell, while he also instructed her to take a bath after the incident, Haindongo testified.
The complainant had a bath as instructed. She then made a phone call to a friend, telling her about the incident, and then went to work, where she also told some of her colleagues and a supervisor, who allowed her to end her shift early and return home, Haindongo said.
The complainant went to the police to lay a charge the next day.
Amoomo told Haindongo when he questioned her that according to Viera he and the complainant had consensual intercourse. Viera also denies that he threatened her, Amoomo added.
The bail hearing is scheduled to continue today.
Amoomo has informed the court that he has been in contact with the Cuban embassy in Windhoek in an attempt to arrange that the embassy would provide accommodation to Viera if he is released on bail.
Prosecutor Palmer Kumalo is representing the state.
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