The Namibian Police Force (NamPol) at Keetmanshoop has since January this year reported 121 cases related to gender-based violence (GBV).
These crime statistics were revealed by the NamPol GBV protection sub-division, Detective Sergeant Lena Kahure said here on Tuesday during a male engagement workshop organised by the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare.
The cases include rape, attempted rape, assault by threat, assault GBV and violation of a protection order.
Kahure said 35 of the 121 cases were withdrawn by the victims and 35 cases are still under investigation, while 42 people were arrested and six convicted.
About 15 rape cases have been reported since January and according to Kahure it calls for alarm. Three cases involve boys under the age of 12 as perpetrators, while the victims are boys under the age of 11.
“You will wonder where children get these ideas, such behaviours are caused by what the parents are exposing their children too, we reap what we sow, you cannot expect to reap positivity while you planted negativity,” she stressed.
Kahure said they as the GBV division discourage victims from opening cases while they are angry as it results in many cases being withdrawn.
“When you open a case when you are angry or in the moment it means you are not thinking right and when you are in your right mind again it’s likely you will withdraw that case, so we really discourage people from opening cases while angry,” she said.
Also speaking at the event, former Keetmanshoop Municipality councillor, Gabriel Freyer said economic circumstances such as the search for better opportunities far from home is one of the factors that parents and especially fathers are not involved in their children’s lives.
“Because parents are far away, many children are bound with their grandmothers and they die at a stage where the child needs them most. They end up not having anyone to bond with and they turn to other things such as alcohol,” he said.
Freyer added: “We need role models in society to influence those that do not have fathers, we do not have many role models here, they can fill the gap in the lives of those children who have no fathers and play the father role.”
Source: NAMPA