Teenager raped in quarantine

JEMIMA BEUKES AND ADOLF KAURESWAKOPMUND/WINDHOEKSwakopmund State Hospital driver, 26-year-old Glenn Clifford Leister, has been denied bail by the local magistrate's court after appearing in connection with the shocking rape of a 15-year-old girl at the Swakopmund Rest Camp, which is being used as a Covid-19 isolation facility.Leister made his first appearance before Magistrate Nelao Paula Brown yesterday following the alleged rape of the teenager last week, who was recovering from Covid-19.Magistrate Brown denied the suspect bail.This was after prosecutor Beata Mwahi objected to the suspect's release.“We object to bail because of the seriousness of the offence, because it was perpetrated against a minor. It is not in the interest of administration of justice if the accused is granted bail at this juncture,” Mwahi said. Leister was represented by lawyer Ray Rukoro.Case postponedAccording to Erongo crime investigations coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Erastus Iikuyu, Leister was arrested on Friday morning.“The suspect is a driver at the Swakopmund State Hospital,” he said.It is understood that the 15-year-old victim was a Covid-19 patient who was recovering at the rest camp, popularly known as the municipal bungalows.The case was postponed to 5 October in order for the accused to conduct a formal bail application. Leister is being held at the Swakopmund police station holdings cells until his next court appearance. Spate of sex attacksThe alleged rape at the isolation facility follows a spate of recent sex attacks which has left the country in shock and families feeling unsafe in their homes.It also emerged yesterday that authorities suspect that the two men who raped a 12-year-old girl in front of her mother and little sister recently are the same culprits who wreaked havoc in the Goreangab informal settlement last year, where they raped 14 victims.According to a well-placed source, the suspects are armed with a firearm and a knife and their modus operandi is to rape their victims in the presence of their loved ones.It is also suspected that the men live near their victims and know who and what they will find when they target a specific house.“It looks as if these people know the Criminal Procedure Act by heart because they always make sure to wipe out all the evidence. This is why they use condoms every time they rape,” the source said. The suspects also wore balaclavas, which has, to date, made it impossible for victims to identify them. Organised“They are very organised and it looks as if they have been doing this since 2019, but in the Goreangab informal settlement. The latest two incidents in Havana are now added to this,” the source said. The latest incident involves the rape of a 22-year-old woman, who was allegedly raped in the presence of her boyfriend. The suspect subsequently killed the victim's brother who came to his sister's aid. It is believed that this is the gun-wielding suspect, who acted without his knife-wielding partner in crime. Sexual aggressionAccording to Dr Veronica Theron from the Office of the First Lady, statistics show that these kind of gang robberies and rapes are organised by habitual offenders who are out on bail. “The sexual aggression is fuelled by male superiority, entitlement to sex, the inability to control emotions/arousal, sexual deviant behaviour and arousal, drug-facilitated anger, power and sadism and evolutionary pressures. In some of the cases, the perpetrators force couples to have sex while watching them,” she said. Theron added that these crimes usually take place in informal settlements, where police find it difficult to intervene because of the density of shacks and people. “Most of the crimes are committed during morning hours between 02:00 to 04:00. This makes it difficult to identify and trace perpetrators, because it is dark and they cover their faces,” she said. Easy targetsTheron added that irresponsible drinking culture amongst the youth makes them easy targets to sexual predators.“If they start, they cannot stop until they are intoxicated. Males have been seen being raped after house parties, but they are too embarrassed to report. “Rapists plan and spike the drinks of their victims. Some even have specific places, rooms and houses where they take their intoxicated victims to rape them. These crimes are planned and committed weekend after weekend,” she said. jemima@namibiansun.com; adolf@erongo.com.na

Teenager raped in quarantine

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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Teenager raped in quarantine

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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