Court rules key statements inadmissible in gang rape trial

Witness and warning statements obtained from three of the four men accused in a rape and armed robbery case dating back to 2018 have been ruled inadmissible in the main trial after the Katutura Regional Court found that police obtained some of the statements “under the guise” of witness interviews despite already treating the men as suspects.

Regional court magistrate Victor Nyazo made the ruling last month following a trial-within-a-trial brought by the State in an attempt to have several statements admitted as evidence ahead of the main trial, which is set to commence later this month.

Rion Ricky Geingob (39), Sefrino Geingob (29), their cousin Golden Geingob (29) and Moses Beukes (32) face charges including housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances, multiple counts of rape, escape, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, and motor vehicle theft.

The charges stem from allegations that the men broke into the home of a then 21-year-old Windhoek woman in December 2018, stole electronic items valued at approximately N$28 100, and allegedly raped her at knife and gunpoint.

State prosecutor Ellen Shipena further alleges that Rion, Beukes and Golden were involved in a separate robbery and motor vehicle theft incident in Katutura on 30 November 2018, during which electronic items valued at about N$11 900 and a Volkswagen Polo were stolen.

Application denied

During proceedings in November 2024, the State sought to have a confession and witness statement by Golden, a witness statement by Sefrino, and a Pol 17 warning statement by Beukes admitted into evidence.

Rion was cited in the application only for completeness and was not directly involved in the admissibility proceedings.

The application was opposed by the accused’s legal representatives. Sefrino is represented by Cleopetra Boois, Golden by Milton Engelbrecht, and Beukes by legal aid lawyer Eva-Maria Nangolo.

Sefrino’s defence argued that his statement was obtained while he was allegedly being treated as a witness and that he had not been informed of his constitutional rights, including the right against self-incrimination.

Beukes argued that investigating officer Joseph Sakaria ignored his request to provide a statement in the presence of a lawyer and instead effectively ascribed the contents of the statement to him.

Golden, meanwhile, challenged both his confession and witness statement, arguing that the confession made before magistrate Alweendo Venatius was not freely and voluntarily made and that his witness statement had been recorded in English without being interpreted back to him in his home language.

Court documents further indicate that Golden approached police in August 2020 expressing a desire to make what he believed would be an uninfluenced confession in an effort to distance himself from the rape allegations, reportedly maintaining that he had only been involved in the robbery.

In his ruling, Nyazo found that Sakaria already regarded Sefrino and Beukes as suspects when he conducted what he described as “filtering and credibility interviews”.

“So evidently at the time Warrant Officer Sakaria held several informal interviews ... he well knew that the second and fourth respondents were suspects in the criminal case he was investigating, and yet he proceeded to obtain statements from them under the guise of such statements being witness statements, which was deceitful," the magistrate found.

Nyazo further found that the interrogations were not sincere and appeared aimed at eliciting statements that supported the investigator’s version of events.

The confession, however, given by Golden was admitted as evidence.

The three accused remain in custody, with only Serfino out on bail of N$4 000.

Serfino and Rion are also known to have previous convictions and have, on several occasions, escaped from police custody in 2019.

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