Hostel father accused of raping ten boys

A FORMER school cleaner and hostel father has made a first appearance in the High Court on 32 counts of rape, involving 10 boys, and incidents of sexual abuse that allegedly took place over a period of three years.

Mervin Nguyapeua (48), who is set to stand trial on 32 charges of rape and 27 alternative charges of committing a sexual act with a child under the age of 16, made a first pretrial appearance in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

Judge Christie Liebenberg postponed his case to 23 November for another pretrial hearing, with Nguyapeua expected to get legal representation in the meantime.

While employed by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture as a cleaner, Nguyapeua lived at the hostel of the Karundu Primary School at Otjiwarongo, and was regarded as a hostel father by pupils who lived in the hostel, the state is alleging in the indictment setting out the charges against him.

The state is charging that Nguyapeua raped 10 boys during his stay in the hostel. The first of these incidents took place during the second school term of 2013, when he raped a 14-year-old boy, and further sexual assaults on boys at the hostel occurred during 2014, 2015, and in February 2016, the state is alleging.

The last alleged rape of a boy took place on 29 February last year, the prosecution is also charging.

Nguyapeua was arrested the next day.

The boy involved in the alleged rape on 29 February last year was 13 years old at the time, and had also been raped by Nguyapeua during May 2015, the state is alleging.

Nine of the boys allegedly raped by Nguyapeua were under the age of 16 when sexual acts were committed with them, according to the indictment. Two of them were 13 years old at the time of the alleged incidents, six of them were 14, and one was 15.

The sexual acts Nguyapeua is accused of having committed included the stimulation of the boys’ genitals, and also anal intercourse.

Nguyapeua has remained in custody since his arrest. State advocate Palmer Kumalo represented the prosecution during the pretrial hearing yesterday.