Raped on Valentine’s Day at the age of 2
Tuyeimo Haidula - Enzo Amuele
ONDJANAzo Amuele
Her daughter and niece, both aged two, have allegedly been raped by an 18-year-old man within less than 30 minutes at Omupini village in the Ohangwena Region’s Okongo constituency.
On Valentine’s Day, Johanna*’s life fell apart.
Three days later, she’s still processing the event.
“They were robbed of their childhood. I’m still trying to work it out in my head now,” one of the victims’ mothers says, her voice breaking as she attempts to fight the raw emotion that has consumed her since finding out what happened last week.
The incident is still fresh in her mind, she said.
Ohangwena police crime investigations coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Zacharia Amakali, said Simon Nande (18) found the two-year-old girls in his employer’s house, took them to a sleeping room and raped them.
“It was discovered when one of victims started crying loudly and was unable to walk.”
Nande, an Angolan male who was barely employed for a month as a goat herder, appeared in the Okongo Magistrate’s Court on Friday before magistrate Helvi Shilemba. His case was postponed to 2 May for further police investigations. State prosecutor Pallhus Shuudeni strongly opposed bail due to the “shocking and disturbing” nature of the incident.
‘Something must have happened’
Johanna sat down with Namibian Sun at the homestead where the incident took place. She was busy with arrangements for ‘ondjabi’ through Ubuntu, which sees neighbours collectively assisting each other to weed their mahangu fields.
Four children are playing under a Marula tree. The victims are among them, but you wouldn’t be able to tell.
One is two, while the other is a month shy of three. The toddlers greet us with smiles on their faces. One offers us a jar of traditional beer.
Johanna said she left the two at home playing when she went to drop off her phone at the cuca shops to charge it - about 700 metres from the house.
She was quick to add that she doesn’t drink. “If the world is to think I went to drink alcohol... Not at all. I simply needed my phone charged”.
Johanna said she hurried back home with a friend. On their way, she could hear her daughter crying. When she arrived at the house, the toddler didn’t run towards her as she usually did. Johanna then realised her walk was different.
Describing Nande’s behaviour as “defensive” when asked why the children were crying, she said this made her realise that something must have happened.
She picked up the toddler to comfort her and realised she had soiled her pants.
“Already I thought this was strange because she was doing well with the potty training and didn’t mess herself,” Johanna said.
She added she used a cloth to wipe the toddler – it remains at home, uncollected as part of the evidence. It’s covered in blood.
According to the distraught mother, she could immediately tell something had happened very recently, because when she removed her daughter’s pants, they were soaked with blood.
Destroyed
“I screamed at the first sight. I am destroyed,” Johanna said.
She could not believe her eyes. She wanted to save her baby, but she wasn’t sure how, she said.
She narrated that she then went to the second toddler to inspect her too, and noticed she had also been crying.
When asked what happened, the toddler said Nande took “a stick out of his pants and inserted it her vagina”.
Eventually, Johanna gathered enough strength to walk back to the cuca shops and get her phone.
This time, she left the children in the care of her friend.
“I called someone from the women and men network to report the issue. This person was the one who assisted me to report the case to the police,” she said.
Traumatised, Johanna narrated that they took the children to hospital the next day as it was already late.
By the time she realised her daughter was raped, she had already washed the toddler to clean her of faeces. But she had not bathed the older toddler, so evidence could still be collected.
PEP for a month
At the hospital on Wednesday morning, rape kits were administered and emergency medication was given to the toddlers to prevent HIV infection. They will now take post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for a month.
“I wonder why someone would do this to these innocent children. These children are so young. If I keep quiet, I am an accomplice in the crime against these children,” the mother said.
Johanna added that she could not keep quiet about it because it might affect the children in the future.
Acknowledging that there are times parents hide these situations from the public, she urged mothers, guardians and any rape victims to speak up so they can get help.
*Not her real name
ONDJANAzo Amuele
Her daughter and niece, both aged two, have allegedly been raped by an 18-year-old man within less than 30 minutes at Omupini village in the Ohangwena Region’s Okongo constituency.
On Valentine’s Day, Johanna*’s life fell apart.
Three days later, she’s still processing the event.
“They were robbed of their childhood. I’m still trying to work it out in my head now,” one of the victims’ mothers says, her voice breaking as she attempts to fight the raw emotion that has consumed her since finding out what happened last week.
The incident is still fresh in her mind, she said.
Ohangwena police crime investigations coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Zacharia Amakali, said Simon Nande (18) found the two-year-old girls in his employer’s house, took them to a sleeping room and raped them.
“It was discovered when one of victims started crying loudly and was unable to walk.”
Nande, an Angolan male who was barely employed for a month as a goat herder, appeared in the Okongo Magistrate’s Court on Friday before magistrate Helvi Shilemba. His case was postponed to 2 May for further police investigations. State prosecutor Pallhus Shuudeni strongly opposed bail due to the “shocking and disturbing” nature of the incident.
‘Something must have happened’
Johanna sat down with Namibian Sun at the homestead where the incident took place. She was busy with arrangements for ‘ondjabi’ through Ubuntu, which sees neighbours collectively assisting each other to weed their mahangu fields.
Four children are playing under a Marula tree. The victims are among them, but you wouldn’t be able to tell.
One is two, while the other is a month shy of three. The toddlers greet us with smiles on their faces. One offers us a jar of traditional beer.
Johanna said she left the two at home playing when she went to drop off her phone at the cuca shops to charge it - about 700 metres from the house.
She was quick to add that she doesn’t drink. “If the world is to think I went to drink alcohol... Not at all. I simply needed my phone charged”.
Johanna said she hurried back home with a friend. On their way, she could hear her daughter crying. When she arrived at the house, the toddler didn’t run towards her as she usually did. Johanna then realised her walk was different.
Describing Nande’s behaviour as “defensive” when asked why the children were crying, she said this made her realise that something must have happened.
She picked up the toddler to comfort her and realised she had soiled her pants.
“Already I thought this was strange because she was doing well with the potty training and didn’t mess herself,” Johanna said.
She added she used a cloth to wipe the toddler – it remains at home, uncollected as part of the evidence. It’s covered in blood.
According to the distraught mother, she could immediately tell something had happened very recently, because when she removed her daughter’s pants, they were soaked with blood.
Destroyed
“I screamed at the first sight. I am destroyed,” Johanna said.
She could not believe her eyes. She wanted to save her baby, but she wasn’t sure how, she said.
She narrated that she then went to the second toddler to inspect her too, and noticed she had also been crying.
When asked what happened, the toddler said Nande took “a stick out of his pants and inserted it her vagina”.
Eventually, Johanna gathered enough strength to walk back to the cuca shops and get her phone.
This time, she left the children in the care of her friend.
“I called someone from the women and men network to report the issue. This person was the one who assisted me to report the case to the police,” she said.
Traumatised, Johanna narrated that they took the children to hospital the next day as it was already late.
By the time she realised her daughter was raped, she had already washed the toddler to clean her of faeces. But she had not bathed the older toddler, so evidence could still be collected.
PEP for a month
At the hospital on Wednesday morning, rape kits were administered and emergency medication was given to the toddlers to prevent HIV infection. They will now take post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for a month.
“I wonder why someone would do this to these innocent children. These children are so young. If I keep quiet, I am an accomplice in the crime against these children,” the mother said.
Johanna added that she could not keep quiet about it because it might affect the children in the future.
Acknowledging that there are times parents hide these situations from the public, she urged mothers, guardians and any rape victims to speak up so they can get help.
*Not her real name
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