Child-trafficking case heads to High Court

OTIS FINCK The case in which Alexander Krylov and Anna Katrina Engelbrecht face 32 charges of child trafficking, rape and offences committed under the Immoral Practices Act has been transferred to the High Court in Windhoek.This was the outcome of a decision by Prosecutor-general Martha Imalwa on the prosecution of the case.The matter involves five girls, some of whom were minors at the time the alleged crimes were committed.The two accused were informed of the PG’s decision when they appeared before Magistrate Vicky Nicolaidis in the Walvis Bay Magistrate’s Court on 14 November. They will attend a pre-trial hearing scheduled for 14 February in order to finalise problems regarding their legal representation and other issues pertaining to the case.Nicolaidis explained to the accused that there would be no State witnesses present in court on that date and that the case could be finalised should the accused plead guilty.The bail conditions of both accused were amended.Krylov, who is a Russian national and a marine pilot at Namport, paid N$40 000 bail. His co-accused, Engelbrecht, paid N$4 000 in November 2017.They were arrested in October 2016.Krylov testified during the bail hearing in November that he had sexual encounters with a group of minor girls and Engelbrecht.He told the court that the sexual encounters were consensual and that he paid the girls N$100 each.According to him he was unaware that they were underage and only learned about their age after reports of the alleged sexual offences appeared in the newspapers.“Their bodies were well developed. I asked one of the girls how old she was before we had sex and she told me that she was 17 years old.“The girls contacted me again three weeks after the first encounter and I went to pick them up in town. We had sex and I paid them N$100 each after the sexual encounter,” he testified. He also informed the court that he had been living in Namibia for the past 15 years, was given permanent residence and had never been involved in any criminal activities prior to his arrest.Engelbrecht testified that she was also under the impression that the girls were 17 or older, because they told her so when she enquired about their age.According to her she did not recruit the girls. They approached her and were allegedly already sleeping around. She also denied that she had taken five girls to Krylov and stated that she only knew two of the girls.

Child-trafficking case heads to High Court

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-11

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Child-trafficking case heads to High Court

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-11

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