Hardap man convicted on baby-rape charge

A Hardap region resident has been convicted of raping a four-month-old baby in the Mariental district in November 2016.

Jonas Murao (47) was found guilty on six charges, including three counts of housebreaking with intent to rape and rape, in a judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.

Murao denied guilt on all of the charges when his trial started before judge Claudia Claasen last June.

The charges against Murao emanated from events that were alleged to have taken place at Hoachanas in the Mariental district in November 2008, February 2012, May 2016 and November 2016.

The state alleged that Murao raped a sleeping woman at Hoachanas on 12 November 2016, and on the same day also broke into a house at the settlement, carried off a four-month-old baby girl and raped her.

Claasen found him guilty of indecent assault in connection with the incident involving the sleeping woman, and of abduction and housebreaking with intent to rape and rape in connection with the incident involving the baby.

During Murao’s trial, the baby’s mother told the court that in her view her daughter had been taken from her house and raped outside. She would have woken up earlier from the baby’s crying if she had been raped inside the house, she said.

Claasen recounted in her judgement that a witness who knew Murao well told the court he had seen Murao closing the door of the house of the baby’s parents around 03h00.

The court also heard that shoe prints similar to those made by the sandals Murao was wearing were found at the parents’ house.

The same shoe prints were observed leading to the scene where the cloth nappy that the baby had been wearing when her mother put her to sleep and a nappy fastener were found at a dumping site.

A police officer told the court that Murao told him “it’s me who did it to the child”, and Murao also told a medical doctor a day after the incident that he had committed a sexual act with the baby, Claasen noted as well.

Murao claimed he was not at Hoachanas and was working at a farm when that incident took place, but his alleged alibi was disclosed only during his trial, and that damaged its credibility, Claasen remarked.

The circumstantial evidence about the incident involving the baby formed a coherent chain pointing solely at Murao, Claasen said.

Murao was also accused of breaking into a house at Hoachanas on 3 February 2012 and committing a sexual act with a sleeping woman.

He has been found guilty of housebreaking with intent to rape and rape in connection with that incident.

A similar incident was alleged to have taken place on 14 May 2016, when Murao allegedly again broke into a house at Hoachanas and committed a sexual act with a sleeping woman.

Claasen remarked that Murao was literally caught with his pants down when the sleeping woman awoke and found him partly naked on her bed. Murao was convicted on a charge of housebreaking with intent to rape and rape in connection with that incident.

The state further alleged that Murao broke into a shop at Hoachanas three times in November 2008 and stole alcohol, cigarettes and money from the shop.

Claasen found him guilty on one charge of housebreaking with intent to steal and theft in connection with the first of those incidents.

Murao, who is being held in custody, has to return to court on 14 August for a date for a presentence hearing to be set.

He is being represented by defence lawyer Peru Liebenberg.

Deputy prosecutor general Dominic Lisulo is representing the state.

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