State wants life imprisonment in serial rape trial

WINDHOEK, 21 MAY  – The State wants the High Court to impose life imprisonment in the case of a man who attacked and sexually molested several teenage girls and women in Katutura between 2007 and 2010.
Serial rapist Jan Rooinasie, 48, was on 29 March 2018 found guilty by High Court Judge Alfred Siboleka on eight counts of rape, three charges of attempted murder, two counts of indecent assault, one count of committing an indecent or immoral act with a child below the age of 16, a charge of abduction and three counts of crimen injuria.
On Monday, State Advocate Karin Esterhuizen in her submissions of evidence in respect of the type of sentence to be handed down, told Judge Siboleka the appropriate punishment for the crimes Rooinasie committed is life imprisonment.
“Jan Rooinasie has been attacking and sexually molesting innocent and defenceless young girls and women for a period of three years… Rape is a serious offence because the victims of these criminal offences are left with psychological trauma for the rest of their lives,” said Esterhuizen.
Under current Namibian law and the provisions of the Criminal Procedures Act of 1977, any person sentenced to life imprisonment after 15 August 1999, is only eligible to be considered for release on parole or probation after serving at least 25 years in prison without committing or being convicted of any crime or offence during that period.
Rooinasie’s State-funded defence lawyer Mbanga Siyomuinji, despite asking the court for a lenient punishment, conceded that his client might not escape life imprisonment considering the seriousness of the crimes he committed.
Rooinasie denied all accusations against him by pleading not guilty at the start of his trial last year.
He is currently serving a direct prison term at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility on a separate charge.
Evidence presented during trial has it that he was free on bail on a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances when he allegedly attacked the victims.
He abducted, raped and committed an indecent act with a 13-year-old girl in Katutura on 25 May 2007 when he was on bail in connection with a robbery carried out at a house in Klein Windhoek at the end of January 2006.
Rooinasie admitted guilt to that charge in May 2010, and was given a fully-suspended sentence of three years’ imprisonment.
After some three years, he attacked a woman, strangled and raped her in Windhoek on 02 March 2010.
The incident took place after Rooinasie asked the complainant to help him get his girlfriend, whom he claimed was in labour, to a local hospital.
Some four days later, he used the same tactic to lure another woman to a bushy area in Katutura, where he threatened her with a knife, strangled her until she lost consciousness, indecently assaulted her and raped her.
On 22 March 2010, Rooinasie also told a 17-year-old girl near the Katutura State Hospital that he needed help to assist another woman with carrying bags.
When the girl accompanied him into a bushy area, he pulled out a knife, threatened to kill the victim, strangled her and raped her.
High Court Judge Siboleka will hand down the sentence in the matter on 18 June 2018 at 09h00.

NAMPA