Suspected paedophile makes brief court appearance
A South African citizen, who was in December last year extradited to Namibia to face 13 charges of human trafficking and rape offences in the country, yesterday made a brief appearance in the High Court in Windhoek.
The 46-year-old Marthinus Pretorius, said to be a former South African police officer, told the court that though he applied for legal aid on 14 December last year he had, to date, not received any response. Judge Nate Ndauendapo thus postponed the matter to 15 February for legal aid and meanwhile, remanded the former fugitive in custody at the Windhoek Correctional Facility. The alleged paedophile also faces other charges which include assault by threat, common assault and malicious damage to property. The man, who was employed at Rössing Uranium mine at the time of the alleged crimes, is suspected of raping three minor girls, aged 13 and 14, at Swakopmund in 2012, before fleeing to South Africa. The 24-year-old convict Johanna Lukas, thought to be the first person in Namibia to be convicted of trafficking children for sexual exploitation, sold the girls to Pretorius between April and May 2012. She was sentenced by Judge President Petrus Damaseb in August 2015 to 13 years direct imprisonment on the counts of human trafficking and rape. Pretorius is said to have paid Lukas N$10 000 for the children.
FRED GOEIEMAN
The 46-year-old Marthinus Pretorius, said to be a former South African police officer, told the court that though he applied for legal aid on 14 December last year he had, to date, not received any response. Judge Nate Ndauendapo thus postponed the matter to 15 February for legal aid and meanwhile, remanded the former fugitive in custody at the Windhoek Correctional Facility. The alleged paedophile also faces other charges which include assault by threat, common assault and malicious damage to property. The man, who was employed at Rössing Uranium mine at the time of the alleged crimes, is suspected of raping three minor girls, aged 13 and 14, at Swakopmund in 2012, before fleeing to South Africa. The 24-year-old convict Johanna Lukas, thought to be the first person in Namibia to be convicted of trafficking children for sexual exploitation, sold the girls to Pretorius between April and May 2012. She was sentenced by Judge President Petrus Damaseb in August 2015 to 13 years direct imprisonment on the counts of human trafficking and rape. Pretorius is said to have paid Lukas N$10 000 for the children.
FRED GOEIEMAN
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