Werner Menges
6 May 2008
Windhoek — A KAMANJAB resident accused of repeatedly raping a woman at the Kunene Region town some three years ago was acquitted last week on all four charges that he had faced in the High Court in Windhoek.
Godfried Gau-Goab (36) stood trial before Judge Collins Parker on two charges of rape and two counts of assault.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In a plea explanation disclosed by his defence lawyer, Ivo dos Santos, Gau-Goab denied that he had raped a 34-year-old woman at Kamanjab on January 8 2005.
Gau-Goab claimed that he had in fact had sexual intercourse with the woman, who is a relative of his, with her consent on that date.
Dos Santos asked Judge Parker to find Gau-Goab not guilty.
In his ruling on the defence lawyer's application, Judge Parker found that the evidence that the prosecution produced was "of such poor quality that no reasonable person could possibly accept it".
Referring to "manifest and obvious contradictions, inconsistencies and deviations" in the evidence, Judge Parker stated that in his view "to accept the tainted and therefore untrustworthy evidence thus far as prima facie proof of the rape and assault charges would be unfair, unsafe and unsatisfactory".
In his view, testimony given by the complainant not only contradicted parts of a written witness statement that the Police had taken from her a few hours after the alleged rape, but there were also a variety of contradictions between her evidence in court and that of some of the other witnesses who gave evidence on behalf of the State.
According to the complainant, she was on her way home at around 22h00 on January 8 2005 when Gau-Goab emerged from behind a tree, grabbed her and either told her that he would be having sex with her - as she testified at one point - or would be raping her - as she testified later on - and that he would then kill her.
She claimed he then forced her to the ground and raped her.
After that, he took her to his house, where he again raped her, she said.
As they passed by several houses on the way, the complainant never shouted for help, Judge Parker noted.
The complainant and Gau-Goab were still at the latter's house when her boyfriend arrived outside.
She told the court that her boyfriend fled after Gau-Goab threatened him with a knife, and that she and Gau-Goab then went to another house.
Her boyfriend had gone to summon the Police in the meantime.
A Police officer later found Gau-Goab and the complainant at the second house.
They were together in bed, asleep under a blanket, the Policeman told the court.
State advocate Zenobia Barry, who conducted the prosecution, argued that if it was Gau-Goab's defence that he had consensual sexual intercourse with the complainant, then he should take the stand and say so under oath.
This however was not in line with the Constitution's protection of an accused person's right to remain silent and the legal principle that the duty to prove a person's guilt squarely on the shoulders of the State at all times lies, Judge Parker remarked in his ruling.
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