Repeat rapist given 20-year prison term

A YOUNG cattle herder from the Oshakati district who has admitted that he dragged a 43-year-old woman from her home and raped her in a mahangu field almost two years ago was sentenced to a 20-year prison term yesterday.

The 27-year-old Mweshitiwa Mwetuyeka in effect faces a 35-year stint behind bars after his sentencing by Judge Louis Muller in the High Court in Windhoek. That is because on May 31 last year, Mwetuyeka was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on another charge of rape.Mwetuyeka was already serving that jail term when he pleaded guilty in the High Court at Oshakati on April 17 to the rape charge on which he was sentenced yesterday.Mwetuyeka admitted that he had raped a 43-year-old woman at Ondjungulume, a village in the Oshakati district, on June 25 2005.The woman testified in Mwetuyeka’s trial during the High Court’s circuit court session at Oshakati.She told the court that she knew Mwetuyeka from sight.At about 22h00 on the evening of June 25 2005, she testified, she was asleep in her hut when Mwetuyeka entered and dragged her out, into a nearby mahangu field.In the field, he pulled off the clothes that she was sleeping in, punched her in the face and raped her, she said.She added that she screamed for help and two young girls who lived close by came to her aid.Mwetuyeka ran off when the girls arrived on the scene.The woman told the court that she was embarrassed to be found in such a state by the two girls, Judge Muller recounted during the sentencing.She also said that she was the mother of five children and that she felt especially bad that someone who was roughly the same age as her children had raped her, Judge Muller added.As a second-time offender in terms of the Combating of Rape Act, Mwetuyeka faced either a minimum prescribed term of imprisonment of 20 years or of 45 years according to the Act.State Advocate Innocentia Nyoni argued that the woman that he had raped had suffered grievous bodily or mental harm as a result of the rape – a factor that would have compelled the court to impose a minimum jail term of 45 years.Defence lawyer Frieda Kishi, who represented Mwetuyeka on instructions from the Directorate of Legal Aid, in turn argued that he had to be sentenced under the section of the Act prescribing a minimum prison term of 20 years.She argued that there was no evidence to show that the woman had suffered grievous bodily or mental harm as a result of the rape.Judge Muller agreed that no such evidence had been placed before the court.To prove that a complainant in a rape case had suffered grievous bodily or mental harm as a result of the rape, expert evidence such as testimony from a medical doctor would be required, the Judge said.This was absent in Mwetuyeka’s case.Judge Muller added that he was also not persuaded that Kishi had placed before the court any substantial and compelling circumstances that would entitle the court to impose a sentence that is lighter than the prescribed term of imprisonment.He was also not convinced by Kishi’s argument that the sentence that was to be handed to Mwetuyeka had to be ordered to run concurrently with the 15-year prison term he is serving now, Judge Muller said.The end result was that he sentenced Mwetuyeka to 20 years’ imprisonment, ordering that this sentence must run consecutively to the jail term he is now serving.Mwetuyeka only completed Grade 2 at school and was making a living looking after cattle at the time of the rape, the court was informed.That is because on May 31 last year, Mwetuyeka was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on another charge of rape.Mwetuyeka was already serving that jail term when he pleaded guilty in the High Court at Oshakati on April 17 to the rape charge on which he was sentenced yesterday.Mwetuyeka admitted that he had raped a 43-year-old woman at Ondjungulume, a village in the Oshakati district, on June 25 2005.The woman testified in Mwetuyeka’s trial during the High Court’s circuit court session at Oshakati.She told the court that she knew Mwetuyeka from sight.At about 22h00 on the evening of June 25 2005, she testified, she was asleep in her hut when Mwetuyeka entered and dragged her out, into a nearby mahangu field.In the field, he pulled off the clothes that she was sleeping in, punched her in the face and raped her, she said.She added that she screamed for help and two young girls who lived close by came to her aid.Mwetuyeka ran off when the girls arrived on the scene.The woman told the court that she was embarrassed to be found in such a state by the two girls, Judge Muller recounted during the sentencing.She also said that she was the mother of five children and that she felt especially bad that someone who was roughly the same age as her children had raped her, Judge Muller added.As a second-time offender in terms of the Combating of Rape Act, Mwetuyeka faced either a minimum prescribed term of imprisonment of 20 years or of 45 years according to the Act.State Advocate Innocentia Nyoni argued that the woman that he had raped had suffered grievous bodily or mental harm as a result of the rape – a factor that would have compelled the court to impose a minimum jail term of 45 years.Defence lawyer Frieda Kishi, who represented Mwetuyeka on instructions from the Directorate of Legal Aid, in turn argued that he had to be sentenced under the section of the Act prescribing a minimum prison term of 20 years.She argued that there was no evidence to show that the woman had suffered grievous bodily or mental harm as a result of the rape.Judge Muller agreed that no such evidence had been placed before the court.To prove that a complainant in a rape case had suffered grievous bodily or mental harm as a result of the rape, expert evidence such as testimony from a medical doctor would be required, the Judge said.This was absent in Mwetuyeka’s case.Judge Muller added that he was also not persuaded that Kishi had placed before the court any substantial and compelling circumstances that would entitle the court to impose a sentence that is lighter than the prescribed term of imprisonment.He was also not convinced by Kishi’s argument that the sentence that was to be handed to Mwetuyeka had to be ordered to run concurrently with the 15-year prison term he is serving now, Judge Muller said.The end result was that he sentenced Mwetuyeka to 20 years’ imprisonment, ordering that this sentence must run consecutively to the jail term he is now serving.Mwetuyeka only completed Grade 2 at school and was making a living looking after cattle at the time of the rape, the court was informed.