Police spokesman denies rape, claims consent

A WINDHOEK City Police spokesperson arrested on a rape charge two weeks ago told a magistrate during a bail hearing yesterday that he and the complainant in his case had consensual intercourse.

“I did not force her,” Fabian Amukwelele (37) told magistrate Shaatuna Kalla in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura, after saying he and the complainant in his case had consensual intercourse in his flat in Windhoek on the morning of 11 January this year.

Amukwelele, who was arrested and charged on 8 April, said he used a condom during the sexual encounter, but the condom broke and the complainant was worried thereafter that she might get pregnant.

He also said she told him she did not want to lose her job if she were to get pregnant, since she was not appointed in a permanent position, and that she was concerned about her standing in her church if she were to become pregnant.

Amukwelele said he was contacted by the police on 13 March and informed that a rape case had been opened against him. He added when he was arrested on 8 April, he was informed the complainant had been impregnated, and that her pregnancy had been terminated legally, after being authorised by a magistrate.

Amukwelele also said he had a meeting with the complainant in her office after their encounter on 11 January, and that meeting ended with her advising him to look up the meaning of the term “date rape”.

Also testifying during the bail hearing, social worker Veronica Theron, who is attached to the office of Namibia’s first lady, said she had a number of meetings with the complainant for counselling.

She recounted that according to the complainant Amukwelele invited her to his flat for dinner on the evening of 10 January, and after they had eaten he said he was tired and went to bed, where he fell asleep. When the complainant later asked him to move his car so that she could get her car out of the yard to go home, he said he was still tired and wanted to sleep some more.

The complainant ended up sleeping at his flat, Theron said.

According to the complainant, Amukwelele forced himself on her the next morning, when he pinned her down and, despite her requests for him to stop, raped her.

The complainant also told her that when she said to Amukwelele during a subsequent meeting that what he had done was date rape, he started to cry, apologised to her and was remorseful.

The complainant’s wish for privacy was one of the biggest reasons why she did not report the incident immediately after it had happened, Theron said she was told. She further said the complainant’s version of events as relayed to her was consistent during the separate meetings they had.

The hearing is due to continue today.