Bail granted to rape accused doctor

OSHAKATI, 19 APR  – The doctor accused of raping a 20-year-old woman near Ongwediva on 02 April, was on Thursday granted bail of N.dollars 15 000 in the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court.
Magistrate Makapa Simasiku granted the bail to Dr Benhard Mulumba, who had suggested that his bail be set at N.dollars 2 000 when his formal bail application hearing started in the same court on Tuesday.
Simasiku then postponed Mulumba’s case to 28 June this year for further police investigations.
Mulumba, a Congolese national and a medical officer at the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital, pleaded not guilty during the bail application hearing.
“I was driving to go see one of my friends that side of Alfa Bar in Ongwediva when a young woman stopped me for a lift. I stopped, she got into my car and we introduced ourselves,” he told the court.
According to Mulumba, the woman agreed to go to Alfa Bar with him, and that he would drop her off at Ongwediva’s Okakunene residential area, where she stays, afterwards.
He said when they arrived at the bar, he got out of the car and told her he would be back soon.
“I left her in the car,” Mulumba testified, adding that when he came back, he saw her getting into a red taxi.
He went on to say that he drove behind the taxi to return her glasses which she had left in his car and managed to give it to a child outside the house of the complainant.
Mulumba faces charges of rape, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and assault by threat.
He might also face a charge of kidnapping as the complainant told the police that she could not get out of the car as the doctor had locked the doors.
The accused was represented by defence lawyer Silas Kishi Shakumu while Prosecutor Mpule Siyamunji appeared for the State.

NAMPA