ELIASER NDEYANALE and EINO VATILENI A MAN who allegedly pretended to be David Shikalepo, better known as the musician Exit, and then allegedly raped a 19-year-old pupil at Oshakati on Sunday, has been arrested and has appeared in court.
Silver Gabriel Natangwe (27) appeared in the Oshakati Regional Court yesterday on charges of rape.
Public prosecutor Pallhus Shuudeni opposed bail for Natangwe due to the seriousness of the case.
The victim, who is from a village near Oshivelo in the Oshikoto region, also indicated in her statement that she does not want Natangwe to be released on bail.
She said she met Natangwe on Facebook last month.
At the time, Natangwe had a photo of Exit as his profile picture on Facebook, and throughout their chats pretended to be Exit.
On Sunday, she met Natangwe at LG Bar at Oshakati West, where he allegedly told her he was Exit’s brother.
He asked for her phone to call Exit. They then left the bar and went to a house at Oshakati.
“When we got into the room, he called me to make love to me, but I refused because he lied about his name,” the victim said in her statement.
“He tried to beat me … and had sex with me without a condom.”
Assistant magistrate Kaleinasho Pohamba postponed the case to 6 December for further investigation and to allow Natangwe to apply for legal aid.
Exit on Monday said he would open a police case against the suspect once he was arrested, but did not respond to questions yesterday.
“There’s only one Exit. Watch out for pretenders and fake social media accounts,” he said on Monday.
“The nature of his crime is unforgivable. Imagine the effect it had on the victim and her family,” he says.
Technology policy activist Nashilongo Gervasius says many women are exposed to criminals online.
She says within the technology policy space, a lot needs to be done in terms of raising awareness of online safety, and internet users need to be vigilant.
“We don’t have laws and/or visible campaigns in place that people are able to relate to. There is a lot of work to be done … And girls, if it sounds too good to be true, please talk to someone about it,” Gervasius says.
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