Amukwelele acquitted of 'church woman' rape

A woman who accused Windhoek City Police official Fabian Amukwelele of raping her had told him that she mentors young girls from her church not to participate in sexual relations before marriage, and therefore her reputation would be ruined by her pregnancy.

This was heard during a judgment in the Windhoek Regional Court yesterday, where Amukwelele was wholly acquitted.

The woman, who also worked for the City Police, apparently told Amukwelele that the pregnancy would make her position in church untenable, given the fact that she was a mentor to younger members of her congregation.

She also reportedly told him that he should look up ‘date rape’ because that is what would happen if she fell pregnant.

Amukwelele, represented by Sisa Namandje in the matter, maintained during his bail application and trial that sexual intercourse between him and his accuser was consensual.

Abortion

The pair allegedly had sex in January 2020, and in March, she reported being pregnant. It was at that stage that she allegedly told family and friends that she was raped three months earlier.

This was after she travelled to the north to inform her family that she was pregnant after being raped – and that she wanted to terminate the pregnancy, Amukwelele’s heads of argument read.

“It is only after she was advised that she could not have her pregnancy terminated without opening a police case that she approached the police,” court papers read.

“[Amukwelele] was therefore only arrested following the case that was opened primarily for purposes of facilitating an abortion. It is a fact that the complainant achieved what she wanted - the purported abortion was carried out. The complainant did not want to be pregnant.”

Amukwelele faced a further charge of kidnapping, on which he was also acquitted.

Unreliable

Magistrate Leopoldt Hangalo found the complainant’s version of events inconsistent, and therefore “unreliable”.

"One can only conclude that she told her doctors about the 'rape' with the aim of terminating the pregnancy if the emergency contraception did not work," Hangalo said in his ruling.

The complainant testified that she visited Amukwelele's house for dinner, and that he had to go somewhere during the course of the evening. When he returned, he allegedly parked her car in with his.

She told the court that she asked him three times to move his car so she could go home. In the end, she apparently spent the night at his house before he raped her the next morning after he showered.

Amukwelele testified that he and the complainant had consensual sex and that she initiated intercourse.

According to him, he then informed her that the condom they used was faulty and advised her to get emergency contraception.

Built a case

Magistrate Hangalo highlighted several issues regarding the complainant's version of events. Among other things, he questioned why she continued to help Amukwelele get ready for work after the alleged rape and why she gave various versions of events.

He also questioned why she was ‘courageous enough’ to buy morning-after pills [emergency contraception] after intercourse, but not to report the matter to the police.

“Because of her intellectual capacity, she went to consult her private doctors and make a report of a ‘date rape’, but even after she was strongly advised to open a criminal case and be subjected to a rape kit, she still refused,” the judgment read.

“One can only conclude that she did that to build a case in anticipation of terminating the pregnancy if the emergency contraceptive failed.”