Koës resident guilty of rape

KOËS resident Johannes Jossop (42) will today hear his fate after being convicted on Tuesday of raping a 17-year-old girl.

At the start of trial in the Keetmanshoop Regional Court, Jossop pleaded not guilty to the charge of rape.It was alleged that Jossop had raped her at her mother’s house at Koës on July 23 2010. State witnesses told the court that Jossop found the victim and her siblings at home alone. He asked them where their mother was, and after being told that she had gone to the shop, he stormed into the house and raped the victim on the floor. The victim’s siblings fled and asked help from neighbours, the court was told. In his verdict, Regional Magistrate Sunsley Zisengwe rejected Jossop’s claims that the complainant had fabricated the rape allegations against him, adding that he had changed his version of events several times under cross-examination. ‘I am impressed by the complainant as a credible witness. I found that she had not fabricated the evidence against you,’ the magistrate said.Zisengwe noted that Jossop made a damning admission with the unwitting remark: ‘I was not supposed to f..k you, I was suppose to f…k your mother.’Jossop made this remark after he had raped the victim, State witnesses told the court. Zisengwe added that there was no possibility of Jossop being falsely identified because he was well known to the victim’s family.Defence counsel Stefan Coetzee said Jossop was a first-time offender and could be rehabilitated. He suggested a jail sentence of 10 years. State Prosecutor Veiko Alexander called for an effective 18-year jail term as an appropriate sentence for Jossop. Alexander submitted that the cruel manner in which Jossop had raped the victim outweighed his personal circumstances.