Headman accused of raping 3 girls

NDIYONA – The 68-year-old man accused of raping three minor girls at Kapupa village in the Ndiyona Constituency is a senior headman of the Gciriku Traditional Authority in the Kavango Region.

Patrick Katanga appeared in the Rundu Magistrate’s Court on Monday.The well-known senior leader was arrested by the Namibian Police on Sunday for the alleged rape of two 12-year-old girls and one 17-year-old girl. The older girl is said to have a two-year-old baby with the elderly man, who is also her uncle.Rundu Magistrate Helena Bulowade did not ask the suspect to plead, and postponed the case to April 16 for further Police investigation.The headman was denied bail on the grounds that he might interfere with State witnesses, since he is a respected person in that village.Kavango Deputy Commissioner Willie Bampton earlier told Nampa that Katanga allegedly had sexual affairs with the two 12-year-old girls since December last year.Katanga allegedly started sexually assaulting the 17-year-old girl when she was 13 years old in 2007, and she fell pregnant at the age of 15 in 2009.The 17-year-old girl was sent by her parents to work at Katanga’s house in 2007. The statutory rape was reported to the Police by community members while the parents of all three girls allegedly swept it under the carpet. – Nampa