A GRANDMOTHER'S plea for mercy fell on sympathetic ears in the High Court in Windhoek on Friday, as the trial of a young man convicted of rape in a case dating back almost five years finally neared its conclusion.

"I'm here in front of the court to beg for mercy," the 68-year-old Johanna Johannes, grandmother of Lazarus Thomas Kaunda, who was convicted on a charge of rape on Thursday, told Judge Mavis Gibson after being called to the witness stand to give evidence in mitigation of the sentence that was to be handed to Kaunda.

"I'm begging (...) if it is possible, if you punish Thomas, please be lenient with him," Johannes told the Judge, saying she was asking that "in the name of Jesus Christ, the living Lord".

Judge Gibson went on to sentence Johannes's grandson to an effective prison term of five years.

In terms of the Combating of Rape Act, under which he was convicted on Thursday last week, Kaunda was in line to be given a mandatory minimum jail term of 10 years.

Judge Gibson however found that there were substantial and compelling circumstances present in Kaunda's case which warranted a deviation from the minimum sentence prescribed by the law.

Kaunda (22) and three co-accused went on trial before Judge Gibson in late July 2006 on four charges of rape each.

They faced accusations that they had taken part in the alleged gang-rape of a 17-year-old girl at Onguti Secondary School east of Ondangwa on November 28 2003.

In a judgement delivered on Thursday, Judge Gibson found that it had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the girl had been gang-raped as alleged.

She also found, though, that the prosecution in the four young suspects' trial had proven that Kaunda, who was the only one of the four to have admitted that he had sexual intercourse with the girl, had raped her.

Kaunda claimed that he had intercourse with the girl with her consent.

Judge Gibson however found that the circumstances in which this intercourse took place in a storeroom next to a classroom at the school "were far from consensual".

Johannes told the Judge that Kaunda is the son of her late daughter, who died in 2002.

His father died in exile outside Namibia, and Kaunda has been living with her since he was a child, Johannes said.

As the oldest amongst his siblings - they number eight, and are all living with her and her pensioner husband - Kaunda has been doing his bit to try to provide for the family and put food on their table, Johannes said.

She told the Judge that after leaving school, Kaunda got a job.

At the end of each month he gave her N$300 from his salary, until he lost that job because of the case that was still pending against him, she said.

Johannes said she wanted Kaunda to be treated with leniency, so that he could return to her home to continue being a source of assistance to her.

Judge Gibson commented during the sentencing that it appeared that Kaunda has matured and grown into a responsible citizen in the five years since the incident took place.

As a result, Kaunda has in her view as it were rehabilitated himself, she said.

The close to five years that it has taken to finalise the case is an injustice, Judge Gibson also commented, saying that she had accordingly decided to suspend part of the sentence that she imposed on Kaunda.

She sentenced him to nine years' imprisonment, of which four years were suspended for a period of five years on condition that he is not convicted of rape committed during the period of suspension.

Defence lawyer Frieda Kishi represented Kaunda during the trial.

State advocate Sandra Miller prosecuted.