Dordabis’s Arie charged with another rape

RESIDENTS of Dordabis east of Windhoek are livid after a trial-awaiting rape suspect was again arrested over the festive season, this time for allegedly raping a mute woman there.

Johannes Arie, who first appeared in the news when a now 16-year-old cousin reported that he had raped her, is being held in custody at the village Police station following this latest incident.
He had been out on bail while awaiting the resumption of the first case.
In the latest incident, which apparently happened on December 20, a middle-aged, mute woman from the village reported by using sign language that she had been raped by the suspect, who is the brother of a village councillor.
Arie was denied bail during his latest court appearance, and is set to return to court in February.
‘We’re appealing to people like Rosa Namises (of women’s activism group Women’s Solidarity) to come to Dordabis and speak to us about some of the things happening here. We are fearful. Yesterday it was a child, today it’s a woman with children. What are we to expect next,’ one villager, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Namibian yesterday.
The Police station commander at Dordabis refused to speak to The Namibian about the incident yesterday, referring this reporter to the Police’s public relations department.
Arie was arrested on the earlier charge, of raping a 14-year-old cousin of his who had been living with his family, in mid-2007.
The girl had already reported the case in mid-2006, and apparently the arrest was only made after the community put pressure on the Police.
Speaking to The Namibian then, the girl claimed that she had been threatened by the suspect’s family, with whom she was living at the time, to remain quiet about the incident.
She finally registered the case on July 7 2006, after going to visit an aunt on a nearby farm. That was more than a month after the incident is said to have happened on June 15 that year.