Girl (15) raped, impregnated by preacher stepdad

A 15-year-old girl from Ombogo village in the Omusati Region is a mother of a healthy two-month-old baby boy, fathered by her stepfather - a 40-year-old self-proclaimed pastor.

Prior to her stepfather repeatedly raping her, Maria* was the victim of rape in a separate incident in 2022, when a family friend who also professed to be pastor visited their home and took her virginity on a rainy day in a shack where she was sleeping with her siblings.

All this was laid bare yesterday when Namibian Sun’s northern team visited Maria and her 43-year-old mother, Selma* at their homestead following a weekend crime report that only revealed the tip of the iceberg.

Maria, dressed in her uniform when we met her, is in grade eight at a nearby school. Together with her mother, she shared how the man they trusted to protect them has now thrust them into the national limelight of shame.

Fidgeting with her hands and in a shy voice, Maria narrated that the rapes started in July last year when her mother left home to attend a funeral. She was lured into sexual acts when the suspect took her natural science book from her schoolbag and removed a handout about sexual reproduction, she said.

According to Maria, her stepfather took her and her nine-year-old cousin to another shack and started to teach them about reproduction. “He took us to a shack and he was drawing the reproductive organs on the ground and was telling us about how to use condoms and stuff,” Maria said.

After the free lesson, the alleged suspect called her to take soup to his room. When she entered, he locked the door and started to rape her, she narrated.



Locked up

A teary Maria went on to reveal how the alleged suspect locked her up in his room for more than a week, denying her the opportunity to go to school so that he could rape her repeatedly. “After he started, he then called my school to inform them that I was sick as I allegedly had diarrhoea and a cough. This was the time when he raped me at night and in the morning before he left the house. He locked me in the room and only released me at around 14:00 when my siblings returned from school,” she said.

“I then had to cook for him and my siblings and at night again, he would call me to his room to read a scripture for him and once I entered his room, he locked it. This happened until my mother came back,” the girl said.

“When my mother returned from the funeral, we acted like nothing happened because he told me not to tell anyone or else he would beat me up.”

Two months later in September, the victim’s mother was admitted to hospital and during that time, her stepfather raped her again, she said.

The alleged suspect, who is on the run, is the pastor of a church’s Ombogo branch. The headquarters of the church are in Ruacana, where Selma said she met the man in 2020 and subsequently tied the knot in 2021.

According to Maria, her stepfather also invited her to the church for night prayers and on their way back home, he raped her in the nearby bushes. A month after the alleged rape, the suspect informed Maria’s mother in her presence that he had impregnated the girl.



High blood pressure

When asked why she did not report the matter to the police at the time, Selma said due to her high blood pressure, she was advised not to pay much attention to the matter as it might worsen her condition. She heeded the advice and never reported it.

Since then, the woman said she made peace with the situation and was the one escorting her daughter to her medical follow-ups at Tsandi district hospital.

Meanwhile, Maria made another shocking revelation when she narrated how, when she was four months pregnant, the suspect allegedly subjected her to physical and verbal abuse whenever she refused to sleep with him.

“When I was four months pregnant, he beat me up after I asked who had thrown out water I had boiled. He beat me with slaps and his fists and left me with a swollen face,” she said.

With the suspect on the run, both Maria and Selma pleaded with the police to find him so he can face the wrath of the law, a sentiment they said is currently being expressed by a number of family and community members.



Help needed

Omusati police commander, Commissioner Ismael Basson, confirmed that the suspect has yet to be arrested. He urged anyone with information that could lead to his successful apprehension to contact the police.

According to Selma, the alleged suspect recently made contact with her, asking for transport money to return home.

Back at the church, it’s business as usual, with Selma having conducted last Sunday’s sermon due to the absence of her husband.

With the current dilemma they are faced with, the family has appealed for assistance as they survive on the government drought relief aid and unemployment grants. They asked Good Samaritans to donate baby formula, clothes and blankets.



*Not their real names



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