Three children raped over weekend

Three girls aged 10, 13 and 16 are among at least five victims of rape in cases reported to the Namibian police across the country since last Thursday.

On Thursday last week, a 24-year-old man was arrested and charged with rape after he allegedly attacked a 10-year-old girl at Omena village in the Oshikoto Region.

It is alleged the girl was grabbed at around 09:30 on Thursday morning after she and two boys were sent home from school for coming late. The suspect has been arrested.

Two men, aged 20 and 21, were arrested at Aranos at the weekend for allegedly raping 13-year-old girl. It is alleged the incident took place at Nuwerus location on Saturday evening. The two men allegedly kidnapped the girl at knifepoint while she was playing with friends. Both have been arrested.

Gibeon police on Sunday arrested a 21-year-old suspect who is accused of kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old girl at knifepoint on Saturday night.

The girl was walking alongside her twin sister and two younger cousins to festivities being held at the town when the man appeared wielding a knife and forced her to accompany her. Her family immediately informed the police, who were unable to locate her.

She returned home later and told her mother she had been raped. The suspect has been arrested.

Police at Aussenkehr are still searching for a suspect who is accused of raping a 21-year-old woman early on Sunday morning.

Police at Eenawa village in the Omusati Region are investigating a rape charge against a 19-year-old boy accused of raping an 18-year-old girl who was on her way home from school.

A one-year-old boy burnt to death in a shack at Otjiwarongo on Friday night.

The police said according to witnesses, the parents were drinking at a nearby house when they heard screams that their shack was on fire. The cause of the fire is unknown.

Another shack fire claimed the life of a 35-year-old man at Okahandja.



Poaching

A 51-year-old Namibian Defence Force (NDF) colonel and a 55-year-old teacher are expected to appear before the Tsumeb Magistrate's Court today on charges of illegal hunting.

The charges relate to their arrest on early Monday morning at a police checkpoint near Tsintsabis in the farming area north of Tsumeb. Law-enforcement officers discovered the carcasses of two duikers, two rabbits, two springhares and one antelope in the bakkie they were travelling in.

Investigators also found a shotgun, allegedly belonging to the NDF colonel, in the vehicle. The men are currently in custody.

Omaruru police arrested a 49-year-old man and are looking for two more suspects in connection with a poaching incident in which two gemsbok were illegally killed on a farm in the Omaruru district last week.

Two police reservists came across the accused poachers on Thursday and were promptly attacked with stones by the fleeing trio. After the reservists had fired several warning shots, one of the suspects was hit in the leg. He was taken to the Omaruru hospital and remains there under police guard.

The other two suspects are still on the run. Indonesian tourists staying at a lodge near Khorixas were robbed of items valued at nearly N$300 000 on Thursday night while they were sleeping. The police are investigating the theft but no arrests or recoveries have been made to date.

JANA-MARI SMITH