A YOUNG Windhoek resident is being kept in police custody after making a first court appearance on a child rape charge on Friday.

The suspect, Jeremia Toze Kamuhamba (23), was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the alleged rape of a seven-year-old boy in Windhoek two days earlier.

Kamuhamba appeared before Magistrate Tuvoye Nuule in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court on a charge of rape in one case, and on a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm in a separate case, on Friday.

The assault charge which he is facing with his girlfriend, Mercia Gaoses (20), stems from an allegation that he and Gaoses assaulted the mother of the boy that he is accused of having raped when she confronted him over the alleged sexual assault on her child.

The rape is alleged to have been committed on Monday, at the house where the boy and his mother are staying in Windhoek West. The boy reported the incident to his mother after she had returned home from work.

The boy was injured when he was allegedly sodomised.

Kamuhamba was told that he would remain in custody while the investigation of the rape charge continues. His defence lawyer, Gilroy Kasper, informed Magistrate Nuule that a formal bail application would be arranged.

In the assault case, Kamuhamba and Gaoses have both been granted bail in an amount of N$500.

The magistrate warned Gaoses that she may not have any direct or indirect contact with the mother of the boy or with the boy himself, that she may not go to their house, and that she may not interfere with the police's investigation.

Public Prosecutor Oscar Sinvula represented the State.