A Pastor from a church at Opuwo yesterday broke down in tears while testifying in the trial of a German preacher accused of sexual misconduct involving children.
One of the children was a young girl from a marginalised community, who resisted being taken to a children’s home at Opuwo, the pastor testified in the Oshakati High Court.
The pastor’s name is being withheld to protect the victims’ identities, and the accused preacher is currently in police custody.
The preacher had established a home for Himba girls in June 2021, with the aim of providing them with education.
The pastor told the court that he and the German preacher had gone to collect one of the girls from her parents’ home near Opuwo between October and November 2021.
“We spoke to the parents, and they told us the girl had declined to go back to the children’s home. She eventually got in the car, and started crying.
She was trying to get out of the car, and the preacher said he had authority over her and she was not going anywhere,” the pastor testified.
He recounted how the preacher asserted that, having been given the girl by her parents, he could not leave her behind.
As the child continued to cry, a woman urged them to leave her alone.
“It got heated.
Then I told the preacher, ‘let’s take the child back to her parents’, and the preacher told me, ‘keep quiet, I have authority over the girl as she was given to me by her parents’,” the pastor said.
They proceeded to drive to Opuwo with the resisting girl.
“She wanted to get out of the car, and the preacher prevented her from doing that,” the pastor testified.
“The girl opened the door [of the car]. She was crying, and the preacher said the girl would cry for the time being, but would be fine as time went on.”
During the drive, the pastor received threatening text messages, warning that they would be reported to the police for transporting the girl against her will.
Upon arriving at Opuwo, the preacher took the girl to his residence on the church premises, the pastor said.
The girl’s grandmother later fetched her.
At the time, the preacher shared a room with the girl, which reportedly had two beds.
The pastor said the preacher got a bunk bed from Oshakati.
“After some days, the preacher called and asked if we could go to some villages and get children.
He also said we could first go to the girl’s house and talk to the parents about the possibility of the child’s return to the children’s home,” the pastor said.
Upon returning to the girl’s home, the parents refused to allow her to return, citing that she was ill.
IN SEARCH OF MORE CHILDREN
The pastor and the preacher then travelled to Epupa Falls and another village in search of children, but found none.
Upon their return to Opuwo the following day, the preacher was arrested.
He was granted bail in January 2022.
“One day, I was called by Kunene police regional commander commissioner James Nderura, and he said I must go and see him with the preacher.
We went, and he said they saw the preacher with children in his car,” the pastor said.
“The commissioner said if the preacher wanted to do anything with children, it must be done in the church, and the congregants must be present so that if anything happened, there are witnesses.”
The accused preacher disputed this order, arguing that the court had not mandated it. He subsequently initiated a children’s feeding programme, the pastor said.
“A few days later, he [the preacher] asked me why I agreed with the regional commander that his [preacher’s] programmes should be done in church. This bothered me.
“Our relationship started to deteriorate, and I told him if he did not agree, he should leave the church premises, and he left,” the pastor said.
The pastor testified on Monday that he and the preacher met on WhatsApp in April 2021. At the time, the preacher identified himself as a Dutch missionary based in Uganda.
He then arrived in Namibia in June 2021. He had been accommodated at the pastor’s church premises, where he also preached at the time of his arrival.
According to the children’s home blog, the preacher described himself as a missionary “focusing on sharing God’s word with the unreached in Africa”.
The trial continues today.
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