A Windhoek resident facing multiple charges of rape in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of 15 teenage boys has lost a defamation case in which he sued the newspaper Namibian Sun for N$300 000.
In a judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court on Friday, judge Gabriel Komboni found that an article about the charges faced by photographer and former police reservist Johann Maree (55) that was published in Namibian Sun in March 2024 was not defamatory to Maree.
Komboni said in his judgement: “In my view, an objective reader would read the article as a whole in its context and conclude that the article’s theme is the criminal charges the plaintiff [Maree] is facing, which are fully detailed in the article.”
Komboni also stated that in his view “the article in question, when read objectively and reasonably as a whole, not selectively, is not defamatory to [Maree], as it contains material that is true or substantially true and in the public interest”.
Maree sued the company Network Media Hub, which is Namibian Sun’s owner and publisher, Namibian Sun itself, the newspaper’s editor, Toivo Ndjebela, and two reporters, Rita Kakelo and Iréne-Mari van der Walt, who wrote the article that was published under the headline ‘Sports photographer faces 24 rape charges’ in March 2024.
The article also had a second headline, which read ‘‘Paedophile’ earned N$77 000 from child porn’.
Maree complained that the article undermined his right to be presumed innocent in terms of the Constitution, portrayed him as a convicted criminal, and was meant to expose him to hatred, contempt and ridicule.
During the hearing of his claim, Maree told the court that fellow inmates of the prison where he is being held in custody constantly make remarks such as “you paedophile” and “child molester” towards him.
Maree, who was represented by lawyer Rennie Strauss in the defamation case, also complained that the words “his victims” was used in the article in reference to the complainants in his criminal case, without a court having found that those boys had indeed been victims of deeds allegedly committed by him.
The defendants, represented by Norman Tjombe, denied that the article was published with the intention to ridicule Maree or undermine his right to be presumed innocent.
They also pleaded that the contents of the article were true or substantially true, and that its publication was in the public interest.
The defendants further noted that Maree made a confession that was recorded by a magistrate in June 2022.
The confession is part of the evidence in his criminal trial.
Komboni found that the defendants established the defences they raised, including the defence of reasonable publication in the public interest.
He dismissed Maree’s claim and ordered him to pay the defendants’ legal costs.
In his criminal trial, Maree is being prosecuted on 74 charges, including 24 counts of rape, 10 counts of using a child to create pornography, 18 counts of child trafficking, five charges of committing an indecent act with a child under the age of 16, 13 counts of encouraging or allowing a child under the age of 16 to drink liquor and a charge of money laundering.
Maree denied guilt on all of the charges when his trial began in the Windhoek High Court in March 2024.
The trial, which is taking place behind closed doors, is scheduled to continue from 21 September.
