Women accused of raping man with intellectual disability denied bail

The two women accused of raping a man with an intellectual disability on different occasions between May and June at a village in the Oshana region were denied bail when they appeared in the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

Anatolia Petrus (29) and Rauha Pinhas (33) are charged with raping Tuyoleni Shikongo (22), who reportedly suffers from a temporal intellectual disability.

Shikongo’s disability reportedly renders him incapable of having consented to commit to the sexual acts.

The first-time offenders would allegedly usually find Shikongo at the cuca shops, where on different occasions they would lure him to their house to rape him.

The matter was reported to the police by the victim’s aunt.

State prosecutor Veiukai Kangira argued that the complainant is mentally unstable, thus, the state is strongly opposed to the granting of bail due to the seriousness of the offence, classified as gender-based violence.

Kangira argued that the state is still awaiting the mental evaluation report on Shikongo, the history of his mental disability, as well as evidence of the accused persons’ health status.

She said investigations into the matter are at a premature stage.

The suspects appeared before magistrate Mozay Jansen, who remanded them in police custody due to the seriousness of the case, as investigations into the matter are still ongoing.

The matter was postponed to 28 September.