Rape case dismissed after 12 months in jail

A COMMUNITY activist from Usakos, who spent the better part of the last year behind bars awaiting trial on a rape charge, has been discharged.

Magistrate Nicky Nicolaides on Thursday threw out the case against 27-year-old Johannes Gaseb, who was arrested in September last year for the alleged rape of an eight-year-old girl at the town. Gaseb was the chairperson of the Usakos Residents’ Association (URA) at the time.On Thursday, the State’s request for a further postponement of the case for further investigation was denied, and the case was removed from the court roll.Gaseb, who had been denied bail since his arrest, was immediately released.The charges stemmed from a Saturday night in September last year, when at around 20h00 he reportedly walked to his grandmother’s house where he lived, after a night out.According to his accusers, Gaseb allegedly lured two minor girls to his home with promises of giving them cooldrink.Upon arriving there, it was alleged, he told the two sisters that he wanted to have sex with both of them.The older girl, sources said, apparently ran out of the house and reported Gaseb to other adults, who then came with her to find the younger girl still there, and called the Police.Gaseb was immediately arrested.His account of what happened that night differed in that he says the two girls followed him home, pestering him for cooldrink money.”I told them I don’t have loose money, and to go home,” he told The Namibian last year.”But they kept on asking for money even as I went into the house,” he said.He knew the girls well, he said, and they followed him inside despite his refusal.After he refused to budge over their request for cooldrink money, he says the elder sister left, while the younger girl refused to go.The elder sister returned later with a teacher and claimed that her younger sister had been raped, he said.Gaseb maintains that the younger girl even denied this until two days later, when she started agreeing with her sister.Speaking to The Namibian on Thursday following his release from the Police cells, Gaseb said he was not sure whether he would continue his community work.”Right now I’m just trying to get my life back on track.I’m seeing a psychiatrist right now just to try and get myself back on track,” he said.He said he was consulting his lawyers about the possibility of taking legal action against those who had laid the charges against him.”The case was thrown out because they didn’t manage to get any evidence against me.I have maintained since the start that I was innocent, and now those who tried to destroy me are seeing that the truth will always come out.But I’ve lost a year of my life that I can never get back now.”Gaseb was the chairperson of the Usakos Residents’ Association (URA) at the time.On Thursday, the State’s request for a further postponement of the case for further investigation was denied, and the case was removed from the court roll.Gaseb, who had been denied bail since his arrest, was immediately released.The charges stemmed from a Saturday night in September last year, when at around 20h00 he reportedly walked to his grandmother’s house where he lived, after a night out.According to his accusers, Gaseb allegedly lured two minor girls to his home with promises of giving them cooldrink.Upon arriving there, it was alleged, he told the two sisters that he wanted to have sex with both of them.The older girl, sources said, apparently ran out of the house and reported Gaseb to other adults, who then came with her to find the younger girl still there, and called the Police.Gaseb was immediately arrested.His account of what happened that night differed in that he says the two girls followed him home, pestering him for cooldrink money.”I told them I don’t have loose money, and to go home,” he told The Namibian last year.”But they kept on asking for money even as I went into the house,” he said.He knew the girls well, he said, and they followed him inside despite his refusal.After he refused to budge over their request for cooldrink money, he says the elder sister left, while the younger girl refused to go.The elder sister returned later with a teacher and claimed that her younger sister had been raped, he said.Gaseb maintains that the younger girl even denied this until two days later, when she started agreeing with her sister.Speaking to The Namibian on Thursday following his release from the Police cells, Gaseb said he was not sure whether he would continue his community work.”Right now I’m just trying to get my life back on track.I’m seeing a psychiatrist right now just to try and get myself back on track,” he said.He said he was consulting his lawyers about the possibility of taking legal action against those who had laid the charges against him.”The case was thrown out because they didn’t manage to get any evidence against me.I have maintained since the start that I was innocent, and now those who tried to destroy me are seeing that the truth will always come out.But I’ve lost a year of my life that I can never get back now.”