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A WOMAN (61) from a village in the Uuvudhiya constituency in the Oshana region has allegedly told her niece (9) not to report that she has reportedly been raped by a neighbourhood boy (16).
This was claimed by the woman’s sister on Wednesday.
She said their niece was raped on 19 August while her aunt left the house to fetch water from a nearby tap.
“The child told me and the social workers that her aunt told her not to tell anyone about it. I was surprised to hear that. Why would a 61-year-old person advise a child to keep quiet about a rape?
“Someone who gets a social grant on a monthly basis . . . My sister is a dangerous character,” she said.
She said when confronted, her sister claimed to know nothing about the incident.
“She got angry. I told her what she did is not good,” the sister said.
The woman further claimed it was not the first time the nine-year-old was raped by the boy.
She said he raped her last year, but the matter was only later brought to her attention, and was not reported to the police.
“When I went to report the [latest] matter to the Oshakati police, they did not want to help me. They referred me to Onaanda Police Station, because I am from there,” she said.
She said she was only assisted after the victim’s school principal called Oshana police commissioner Naftal Sakaria to intervene.
The suspect has not been arrested yet, she said.
“What are they waiting for?” she asked.
The woman said the girl has recovered from her injuries and is back at school.
The alleged victim’s school principal yesterday told The Namibian: “It was us, the teachers, who realised the child had a problem after she started urinating everywhere, including in the classroom. We asked her and she said she was raped by a boy from the neigbouring house.”
He said the school reported the matter to the Onaanda Police Station.
The police then took the girl to her aunt, who later took her to the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital.
Oshana police spokesperson inspector Thomas Aiyambo yesterday said Oshakati police officers initially would not register the case, since the girl was already taken to the hospital.
“There are procedures. The child was attended to by our gender-equality officers. They assisted her.
“She was subsequently referred to a doctor. After she came from the doctor, I personally picked them up and dropped them off at the Oshakati Police Station, where they opened a case,” he said.
Aiyambo said the girl’s aunt should contact the investigating officer regarding the suspect’s arrest.
The Namibian could not get hold of the 61-year-old aunt.
* Family members and the school principal have not been identified to protect the alleged victim.
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