Heavy prison terms over rape, trafficking of teens

A RUSSIAN citizen and a Walvis Bay resident convicted on multiple charges of rape and human trafficking involving five teenage girls dragged the teens “from the edge into the abyss” when they sexually exploited them, a judge said in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.

Judge Claudia Claasen made this remark during the sentencing of Russian national Alexander Krylov (62) and a Namibian co-accused, Anna Engelbrecht (32), in connection with crimes they committed at Walvis Bay during 2017.

Claasen sentenced Krylov to an effective prison term of 35 years on 10 counts of rape and 10 charges of trafficking in persons.

Engelbrecht, who was found guilty on three charges of rape and five counts of trafficking in persons a month ago, was sentenced to an effective jail term of 20 years. Krylov, who has been employed by the Namibian Ports Authority as a marine pilot at Walvis Bay since 2002, and Engelbrecht were both involved in a series of incidents during which Krylov had intercourse with underage girls at Walvis Bay between January and October 2017.

The court found that Engelbrecht, who is mother of three children, introduced the girls to Krylov for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and that she also caused him to commit sexual acts with the girls under coercive circumstances.

One of the girls was 13 years old at the time, one was 14, two were 15 years old, and one was 16 at the time of the incidents.

Krylov admitted during the trial that he had intercourse with the girls, but claimed he paid them for sex, that the girls were willing participants in the encounters, and that he did not know that any of the girls were underage at the time.

The circumstances under which Krylov had intercourse with the girls – including their ages and disadvantaged home backgrounds – cumulatively amounted to coercive circumstances under the Combating of Rape Act, with the result that the sexual encounters constituted rape, the judge reasoned when she delivered her verdict in the trial.

During the sentencing on Friday, Claasen said Krylov and Engelbrecht both “want to wash their hands in innocence”, as they claimed the five girls’ lives “were already contaminated” by the time Krylov had several sexual encounters – facilitated by Engelbrecht – with them.

Claasen noted that the girls’ mothers told the court they had problems disciplining their daughters, and that some of the mothers at times approached the police or private security companies in an attempt to get help over the teens’ behavioural problems.

The girls’ way of life “does not cancel the protection of the law over them and it surely does not mean that any adult can do with them as he or she pleases”, Claasen said. She added: “Instead of steering the teenagers on the right path, [Krylov and Engelbrecht] dragged them from the edge into the abyss.”

Claasen also remarked that the girls’ mothers found little institutional support when they raised their concerns about their children and tried to get help in connection with the teens’ behavioural problems.

The five girls, who were mostly from bleak socio-economic backgrounds with absent fathers and single mothers trying to fill all the gaps in their household, “were vulnerable and easy prey”, the judge said. The girls told the court that after Krylov had intercourse with them he paid them amounts varying from N$50 to N$200, and also gave them packets of cigarettes.

Given the circumstances in which the girls were living, and the fact that as adolescents they were incapable of making wise decisions, they were bound to not decline an opportunity to make money, Claasen remarked.

Krylov was also sentenced to pay a fine of N$12 000 or serve a jail term of 12 months on a charge of supplying tobacco products to a person under the age of 18.

State advocate Palmer Kumalo represented the prosecution during the trial, which started in February 2020.

Defence lawyer Ileni Velikoshi represented the two accused during the last stages of their trial.