Alleged child rapists want charges withdrawn

WINDHOEK, 10 APR (NAMPA) - Two men accused of trafficking and raping an 11-year-old girl on separate occasions, have lodged an application in the Windhoek High Court to have the charges withdrawn in terms of section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
Dirk von Weidts, aged 73, is charged alongside 46-year-old Arrie Jors.
The alleged rape incidents happened in Noordoewer between October 2020 and January 2021 while the victim’s mother reportedly worked for Weidts as a domestic worker. It is alleged that the two men rapped the victim on separate occasions in their homes.
State prosecutor, Anna Amukugo, argued on Thursday that the state has made a strong case against the accused, whom she stressed harboured the victim, coerced her and sexually exploited her. The coercive circumstances, she said, are that the victim was a minor.
Weidts, she added, showed the victim a gun, and threatened to hurt her if she informed anyone about the alleged crimes. The accused allegedly used two different vehicles to transport the victim to his home.
Jors, Amukugo argued, threatened to beat the victim if she informed anyone about the alleged offenses.
The state further said on Thursday that although medical reports indicate that the victim had no injuries and bruises around her genital area at the time of examination, she testified that she felt pain and discomfort. The physician who testified as a state witness, indicated that at the time of the medical examination, the victim said she was experiencing pain, indicating trauma from past experience.
In his defence, Weidts said the victim’s evidence is not credible.
The two men have indicated in their heads of argument that the medical reports indicated that the victim’s hymen was still intact.
“There was nothing suggestive that the complainant was sexually assaulted by two fully grown adult male persons,” Jors stressed in his heads of argument.
Judge Naomi Shivute postponed the ruling to 11 July 2025.
(NAMPA)
EB/HP/ND