Festive season rife with gender violence

Namibia's crisis of gender-based violence (GBV) did not subside during the recent holiday period, with at least 16 men and four women arrested on charges of murder, assault and rape.

At least GBV nine suspects remained on the loose at the time the latest police crime report was issued.

It is likely that the 17 new rape cases and several new investigations into assault and domestic violence incidents reported to the police are only a snapshot of the actual number of GBV incidents. A report released in November last year indicated that only around 4% of GBV victims report these crimes to the police. Moreover, the Landscaping Gender-based Violence in Namibia report, issued by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in November, said data collection from first responders, including the Namibian police, remained sketchy and the lack of a national GBV database was a pressing concern despite GBV having been recognised as a national crisis.



GBV rife

Crime reports issued by the police between the end of November and 2 January show that the police opened five cases of child rape over that period.

In addition, 12 adult women reported incidents of rape to the police.

A two-year-old girl was allegedly strangled by her 33-year-old mother and buried in a shallow grave at the end of November.

A two-year-old boy sustained serious injuries at the end of November after boiling water was poured over him. A nanny was arrested and later released due to insufficient evidence.

A three-month-old baby girl was recently found dead with a cracked skull.

A 19-year-old suspect was arrested at Epukiro on 30 November for the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl.

At Usakos, a 56-year-old cattle herder was arrested on 11 December on allegations of raping a nine-year-old child.

Police are also investigating the kidnapping and multiple sexual assaults of a 15-year-old teenager, who was allegedly held hostage for three days by a 35-year-old man on a farm near Dordabis.

A 16-year-old girl is pregnant after a 21-year-old man was arrested at the end of December for allegedly repeatedly raping and assaulting her between March and December.

A man remains on the run after he allegedly lured a 15-year-old girl to his room in Rehoboth and raped her.

In mid-December, a 20-year-old woman from Otjomuise was held at knifepoint by four unknown men, dragged to a riverbed and raped multiple times.



Love hurts

Several domestic violence cases involving former partners or boyfriends were also reported over the festive season.

In one incident, a 38-year-old woman was punched and hit on the head with a stone by her 50-year-old boyfriend near Etunda village in the Ruacana constituency.

On the same day, a 25-year-old woman was assaulted and raped at Ondudu village. Her former lover (38) was arrested.

On the last day of 2018, a 24-year-old man was arrested on a charge of attempted murder for allegedly hacking his 19-year-old girlfriend with a panga, causing seriously injuries.

On 1 January, a 32-year-old man was arrested at Maltahöhe on charges of murder and domestic violence. He was accused of stabbing to death his 31-year-old girlfriend.

On 2 January, a 22-year-old suspect was arrested on a rape charge at Oshivelo. He allegedly attacked a woman with a stick, forced her into an unoccupied building and raped her. Both had been partying at a shebeen.

A rape case is being investigated at Omakuva village where a woman was allegedly raped by her boyfriend's 22-year-old landlord, who then stole N$800 and fled.

On Christmas Day, a 43-year-old woman was stabbed with a knife and raped by a man, who then stole her cellphone before he fled. A suspect was arrested.

Also on Christmas Day, a pregnant woman (35) was walking home late at night when she was grabbed and sexually assaulted by a 20-year-old man, who was later arrested.

A rape case was opened at Henties Bay on 30 December after an elderly woman (72) was assaulted and raped in her home by a man who had asked her for a glass of water. No arrest had been made at the time the crime report was issued.



Serious concern

The recent report on GBV indicated that one in three women between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence at the hands of their husbands.

A further 6% of women have experienced violence while they were pregnant and 15% of women never sought help or told anybody about being abused.

The report stressed the need for reliable and up-to-date data, which is a crucial starting point for the development of new strategies and the assessment of existing GBV prevention and response policies.

JANA-MARI SMITH