Repeat offender faces full force of Rape Act

A 50-YEAR-OLD farmworker from the Karibib area is in danger of being sentenced to 45 years’ imprisonment after he notched up a second conviction for rape in the High Court in Windhoek last week.

Judge Sylvester Mainga is scheduled to sentence Willem Meselaar in the High Court on Friday. He convicted Meselaar, a 50-year-old farmworker from the Karibib area, on charges of rape and assault to do grievous bodily harm on Tuesday last week.Dangerously for Meselaar, it is the second time he has been convicted of rape.He was found guilty on a previous count of rape in November 1997.For that, he received a seven-year jail term.This time around, however, Meselaar will have the Combating of Rape Act of 2000 to contend with.According to this law, Meselaar may, as a repeat offender, face a minimum sentence of 45 years’ imprisonment.Meselaar denied the charges against him.He was accused of raping a 25-year-old woman at farm Khuri-Gaob in the Otjimbingwe area on October 7 2004.The State further claimed that before he did that, he assaulted the woman by beating her with a sjambok, tried to hit her with an axe and set a number of dogs on her.Meselaar only admitted hitting her twice with the sjambok.According to him, that was after she swore at him and his mother.He also admitted that he had sexual intercourse with the complainant, but claimed that it was consensual.Whereas she said he had raped her at his house after he had assaulted her, he said they had intercourse at her house before the assault.In his judgement, Judge Mainga termed the complainant’s version that the sexual intercourse had taken place at Meselaar’s house while Meselaar threatened her with a knife, and that it was an act carried out without her consent, as plausible and bound to be accepted.Other evidence tended to support this version of events, he indicated.Part of the other evidence was that the woman promptly reported to other people that she had been raped, and that she was crying and shivering and appeared to be frightened when she did so, the Judge noted.He said the probabilities showed that the complainant’s version should be believed, and that Meselaar’s should be rejected.Meselaar was evasive and made up his story as he was testifying, Judge Mainga said.The woman’s evidence, on the other hand, was clear and convincing, with minor exceptions which in his opinion were immaterial, he added.On the charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, the Judge found that Meselaar had hit the woman four or five times with a sjambok, that he also assaulted her with his fists, and that he wielded an axe during the assault on her.Judge Mainga however was not convinced that Meselaar had set dogs on her.Meselaar’s Legal Aid counsel, Duard Kesslau, asked the court not to impose the minimum sentence of 45 years’ imprisonment prescribed by the Combating of Rape Act.The effect that such a long sentence would have on Meselaar at his age – it would mean that he would be 95 years old by the time he completed his jail term – would in itself constitute such substantial and compelling circumstances that the court would be entitled to deviate from the prescribed sentence, Kesslau argued.State advocate Innocentia Nyoni stuck to her guns, however, and asked the court to stick to the sentencing guidelines laid down by the law.Meselaar has remained in Police custody since he was arrested just after the complaint against him was registered with the Police.He convicted Meselaar, a 50-year-old farmworker from the Karibib area, on charges of rape and assault to do grievous bodily harm on Tuesday last week.Dangerously for Meselaar, it is the second time he has been convicted of rape.He was found guilty on a previous count of rape in November 1997.For that, he received a seven-year jail term.This time around, however, Meselaar will have the Combating of Rape Act of 2000 to contend with.According to this law, Meselaar may, as a repeat offender, face a minimum sentence of 45 years’ imprisonment.Meselaar denied the charges against him.He was accused of raping a 25-year-old woman at farm Khuri-Gaob in the Otjimbingwe area on October 7 2004.The State further claimed that before he did that, he assaulted the woman by beating her with a sjambok, tried to hit her with an axe and set a number of dogs on her.Meselaar only admitted hitting her twice with the sjambok.According to him, that was after she swore at him and his mother.He also admitted that he had sexual intercourse with the complainant, but claimed that it was consensual.Whereas she said he had raped her at his house after he had assaulted her, he said they had intercourse at her house before the assault.In his judgement, Judge Mainga termed the complainant’s version that the sexual intercourse had taken place at Meselaar’s house while Meselaar threatened her with a knife, and that it was an act carried out without her consent, as plausible and bound to be accepted.Other evidence tended to support this version of events, he indicated.Part of the other evidence was that the woman promptly reported to other people that she had been raped, and that she was crying and shivering and appeared to be frightened when she did so, the Judge noted.He said the probabilities showed that the complainant’s version should be believed, and that Meselaar’s should be rejected.Meselaar was evasive and made up his story as he was testifying, Judge Mainga said.The woman’s evidence, on the other hand, was clear and convincing, with minor exceptions which in his opinion were immaterial, he added.On the charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, the Judge found that Meselaar had hit the woman four or five times with a sjambok, that he also assaulted her with his fists, and that he wielded an axe during the assault on her.Judge Mainga however was not convinced that Meselaar had set dogs on her.Meselaar’s Legal Aid counsel, Duard Kesslau, asked the court not to impose the minimum sentence of 45 years’ imprisonment prescribed by the Combating of Rape Act.The effect that such a long sentence would have on Meselaar at his age – it would mean that he would be 95 years old by the time he completed his jail term – would in itself constitute such substantial and compelling circumstances that the court would be entitled to deviate from the prescribed sentence, Kesslau argued.State advocate Innocentia Nyoni stuck to her guns, however, and asked the court to stick to the sentencing guidelines laid down by the law.Meselaar has remained in Police custody since he was arrested just after the complaint against him was registered with the Police.