A 44-YEAR-OLD MAN yesterday appeared in the Grootfontein Magistrate’s Court on charges of rape, incest and assault by threatening involving a 13-year-old girl.
According to the police report, the man, who is a resident of Ovambo Location at Grootfontein, allegedly raped and impregnated his biological daughter.
The offence is said to have occurred in December last year on different days, and the victim claims her father threatened to kill her if she reported the assaults to her stepmother.
The victim’s identity has been withheld for her protection, but it is known that the two lived at the same address.
The accused was remanded in custody.
Cases of rape and incest are unfortunately not uncommon in Namibia, with statistics showing that sexual violence against women and children is a serious problem in the country.
The Namibian could not establish how far the pregnancy is or whether the victim is eligible for abortion at this stage. However, it is possible to get a legal abortion where a rape results in a pregnancy.
Attempts to reach the Otjozondjupa chief social worker, Verona Kapitango, prove futile as her phone went unanswered.
The Namibian wanted to know what could be done in a case where a victim is four months pregnant.
The Abortion and Sterilisation Act 2 of 1975 provides for legal abortions in cases of rape and in a few other circumstances.
According to the Legal Assistance Centre public information document on abortion, the act sets out what must happen before a legal abortion can be performed.
“Two doctors must each provide a written certificate stating that they think the pregnancy is the result of a rape. One of the doctors must be a district surgeon, a doctor employed by the state. If a charge of rape has been laid, the state-employed doctor should be the doctor who examines the woman for purposes of medical evidence,” the act says.
It further says the magistrate does not have to be 100% sure that the woman was raped, they have to believe that it is more probable than not that she was raped.
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