Former SA police officer guilty of rape, human trafficking

Aformer South African police officer, who is facing rape and human trafficking charges committed at Swakopmund in 2012, was on Friday found guilty as charged in the High Court.

The 50-year-old Martinus Pretorius was found guilty on the six counts of rape and five counts of human trafficking in persons when he received a number of underage children at his house in Swakopmund for sexual exploitation in exchange for money between April and May 2012.

In respect of the six counts of rape that were dealt by the court under the provision of the Combating of Rape Act of 2003, Pretorius was convicted upon his guilty pleas to these charges when he admitted to having wrongly and unlawfully committed sexual acts with the minors at his house on several occasions between April and May 2012.

On the five counts of human trafficking in persons, the former police officer was found guilty after the prosecution team presented prima facie evidence during the trial that he had received several underage children at his house in Swakopmund for sexual exploitation in the exchange for payment of money between April and May 2012.

Pretorius was found guilty as charged in a judgement handed down by Deputy High Court Judge-President Hosea Angula on Friday morning.

The charges emanate from the coercive circumstances in which the rape and human trafficking offences took place.

Evidence presented during trial indicates that Pretorius raped three minor girls aged between 13 and 14 at Swakopmund in the Erongo region between April and May 2012 before fleeing Namibia in September the same year.

Pretorius was, however, arrested in South Africa in April 2016, after which he was extradited to Namibia in December 2017 to face the charges against him.

He was employed by Rössing Uranium Mine near Arandis in the Erongo region when the rape and human trafficking in persons crimes took place.

His co-accused, Namibian Johanna Lukas, who had provided the minor girls to Pretorius on several occasions between April and May 2012, was already found guilty and sentenced to 13 years direct imprisonment on counts of human trafficking in persons and rape.

Pretorius is being held at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility until his next court appearance on 22 January 2021 for the presentation of the presentencing evidence.

Arrangements are also to be made through Pretorius’ Legal Aid-funded defence lawyer Advocate Zagrys Grobler to bring to Namibia the convict’s two daughters from South Africa to come testify on behalf of their father during the mitigation evidence.

State Advocate Felistas Shikerete-Vendura is appearing for the prosecution. – Nampa