1 RAPE EVERY 60 MINUTES
By Lindsay Dentlinger, Windhoek

November 12, 2003 – (The Namibian - Windhoek) AT least one woman, or young girl, is raped every hour of every day in Namibia.

This stark statistic on sexual attacks countrywide was revealed by Attorney General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana in the National Assembly yesterday afternoon.

Iivula-Ithana said that records from the Prosecutor General's office showed that to date the country's youngest rape victim had been a tender
six months old, while the oldest had been an 85-year-old woman.

There was scarcely a ripple of reaction in the House as sober-faced Members of Parliament absorbed the information.

Iivula-Ithana was driving home the importance of amending a 26-year-old act governing the country's criminal procedures: the aim is to achieve a greater success rate in prosecuting perpetrators of violence against women and children.

"These vulnerable members of our society are often abused to the extent that they do not have the courage to report their suffering and are left scarred, humiliated and without any sense of self-respect and dignity," she told the House.

She proposed that an amendment be introduced to the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 to enable special arrangements for vulnerable witnesses to give evidence.

The Attorney General said existing criminal procedures were far from ideal when it came to dealing with abuses inflicted on vulnerable people.

"This badly needed legislation will strengthen the hand of our prosecutors and judiciary in achieving justice for both the victims of some of the most despicable crimes that plague our nation and society as a whole," she said.

The principal object of the bill is to empower a trial court to use special measures that will lessen the trauma to vulnerable witnesses giving testimony.

This could mean relocating the trial to another location, rearranging furniture, granting permission for a support person to accompany the witness, and allowing testimony to be given by closed circuit television from another room connected to the court room.

It is envisaged that the new arrangements will work in tandem with recently initiated victim-friendly courts, the first of which was inaugurated at the Katutura District Court in Windhoek in September.

The State plans to build more such facilities in the Windhoek High Court and at five other regional courts across Namibia.

Under the proposed legislation, a person will be classified as a vulnerable witness if under the age of eighteen.

Other determining factors will be whether a sexual or indecent crime has been committed against the person, whether a family member is alleged to have committed the deed, and the mental or physical state of the victim.

The bill will also pave the way for the admission of testimony by young children and out-of-court statements by young people under the age of 14.
Medical records of doctors who examine victims of sexual offences, but are unable to appear in court will also have to be made available to the courts.

Iivula-Ithana said in the past many sexual prosecutions had been "shipwrecked" because of the unavailability of practitioners to give evidence.
Debate on the bill will resume tomorrow.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200311120468.html