Iuze Mukube

A man convicted and sentenced for raping a 14-year-old minor has been unsuccessful in his bid before the High Court for an opportunity to challenge his conviction in the Supreme Court.

The accused, who shall not be named to protect the victim, had sought leave to appeal against his conviction after failing to do so in the same court.

The convict was sentenced to 14 years in 2024 in the Windhoek Regional Court on one count of rape.

Aggrieved by the conviction, he had logged an appeal against the conviction in the High Court, but the appeal fell short on 15 October 2025.

He then sought to take the matter to the Supreme Court, contending that the court may come to a different conclusion than the High Court.

Arguing in his defence, the convict contended that the judges erred in law and on facts by upholding the conviction despite multiple inconsistencies and contradictions in the complainant’s evidence.

He argued that the inconsistencies and contradictions in her evidence were not satisfactorily explained, rendering her evidence unreliable.

He argued that the complainant in the matter gave multiple versions throughout the course of the trial as to whether penetration had occurred.

According to him, she initially stated that he had allegedly forcefully penetrated her and caused her pain, but during her testimony she allegedly indicated that he had forced his private parts against hers but made no penetration.

He submitted that these inconsistencies create a reasonable doubt, such that a different court could reach a different conclusion on whether penetration, an essential element of rape, had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

He also contended that the court failed to give due weight to his version and erred in concluding that it was false beyond a reasonable doubt.

The victim had explained how the applicant had forced himself on her while she was a minor at the time.

The convict attacked the evidence as having many contradictions and that it could not be relied upon.

He pointed to a report by a medical doctor, stating that the said doctor reportedly testified that there were no signs of sexual assault, even though swelling and tenderness around the genitalia were noted.

He submitted that given the complainant’s evidence that she was a virgin and had been violently assaulted, one could ordinarily expect injuries such as bruising or tearing, but these were absent. He also argued that the State failed to conduct DNA testing on the white discharge collected during the examination to determine whether it belonged to him or not.

He further submitted that the complainant was a sole witness, and her evidence was not clear and satisfactory in all material respects.

The man submitted that the trial court failed to properly address and evaluate all these inconsistencies and misdirected itself by convicting him despite inconclusive medical findings and contradictions in other evidence.

He also denies that he coerced the minor and sexually penetrated her.

However, his application for leave to appeal was dismissed by Judge Dinah Usiku, acting in concurrence with Judge Eileen Rakow.

Usiku found that there was no misdirection whatsoever by the Regional Court when it convicted the applicant.

She found that there was no misdirection on either the facts or the law and that the applicant was properly found guilty on sound and cogent evidence.

Usiku further found that the applicant had no reasonable prospects of success on appeal against his conviction by the court a quo.

–imukube@nepc.com.na

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