A man accused of raping his biological daughter over a three-year period denied guilt on 24 criminal charges in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
“I’m not guilty,” the man said each time he was asked for his plea on the charges he is facing.
The man (46) is accused of raping, indecently assaulting and twice impregnating his biological daughter in Windhoek from 2018 until August 2020.
The alleged sexual abuse started when the daughter was 13 and the man 40 years old.
His name is being withheld to protect the identity of the complainant in the matter.
The charges on which the man gave his plea before judge Herman January yesterday, include 15 counts of rape, alternatively committing a sexual act with a girl under the age of 16 years, four counts of indecent assault and two charges of procuring an abortion.
He is also charged with pointing a firearm at his daughter, assault by threat and administering a drug or intoxicating liquor to his daughter to enable him to have intercourse with her.
The state is alleging that the man raped the complainant on four occasions during 2018, another four occasions during 2019 and seven times during 2020.
The last alleged rape took place in August 2020, according to the indictment in which the charges against the man are set out.
The state is also alleging that the accused impregnated his daughter twice, and thereafter, induced her to terminate the pregnancies through abortions during 2019 and also in August 2020.
The man was arrested in September 2020.
After his arrest, The Namibian reported that the complainant’s mother registered a case with the police after discovering suggestive phone messages he had sent to his daughter.
The complainant kept a journal in which she recorded incidents during which she was allegedly indecently assaulted and raped, it was also reported after the man’s arrest.
The accused is the father of nine children, he informed a magistrate during an unsuccessful application to be granted bail following his arrest.
He has been held in custody over the past four years.
State advocate Maria Shilongo is expected to call the first prosecution witness to testify in the trial today.
The accused is being represented by defence lawyer Joseph Andreas, on instructions from the Directorate of Legal Aid.
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