WINDHOEK – Judge Alfred Siboleka yesterday granted bail of N$5 000 to a man who is accused of raping his three daughters between 1997 and 2012.

The suspect, a 41-year-old sales executive at Telecom, faces three counts of rape of his biological daughters.
The man’s name cannot be divulged to protect the identities of his children.

The State alleges that the accused fond-led his daughters’ breasts and inserted his fingers and his tongue in their private parts between 1997 and 2012.

He was arrested in February this year and had been in custody since.
Magistrate Ivan Gawanab denied him bail in April in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court, in a marathon hearing that commenced in February.

Two months after the accused was denied bail, his defence lawyer Sisa Namandje lodged an appeal in the High Court.
Judge Siboleka granted the accused bail with stringent conditions yesterday. The accused was ordered not to contact the complaints, as well as State witnesses directly or indirectly.

He was ordered to move only between his place of employment and his house in Khomasdal, prior to the matter being finalised.
The judge ordered the accused not to contact the mother of the complainants and to hand in his firearm to the investigating officer.
He was also ordered not to suspend any maintenance obligations.

The judge ordered the police to ensure that the accused complies with his bail conditions.
“If you transgress the bail conditions, it will be at your own risk,” the judge said yesterday.

During the bail hearing in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court, the State objected to the accused being granted bail on the grounds that he might interfere with witnesses, as well as the current police investigation.

Further grounds were that the accused could commit the same crime; the “strength of the State’s case”; the seriousness of the allegations; public interest; that the accused posed a danger to the complainants and because police investigations were not complete.

Yesterday, defence lawyer Namandje informed the court that one of the victims (daughter) had sued a girl for alleging that she (daughter) had slept with her father and she won a settlement of N$25 000.
“Where are the allegations coming from?” he asked.

“Where is the justice, if the person who was sued heard that the father has been in custody for four months?”
Namandje asked the judge to set aside the magistrate’s decision and to grant his client bail in a fair amount and fair conditions.
The defence lawyer added that there were discrepancies in the State’s evidence.

Namandje said the State had originally said the rapes occurred from 1996, but later changed the date to 1997.
He also questioned why none of the victims was called to testify.
Palmor Khumalo yesterday represented the State.

Khumalo argued that the accused had a tendency of re-offending. In 2003, the accused was tried for rape, while he continued to abuse one of the complaints, he said.

He added that once released on bail, he might be a danger to the complainants.
Judge Siboleka granted bail immediately after hearing arguments from both sides.
The matter will commence in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court on July 17.