WINDHOEK: A young Windhoek resident was today sent to jail for three years on a charge of rape committed in June 2008.

Laizer Kuhlewind, 23, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment of which four years were suspended for a period of five years on condition that he is not convicted of any charges related to rape during the period of suspension.

Kuhlewind was thus sentenced to an effective three years’ imprisonment by High Court Judge-President Petrus Damaseb.

Kuhlewind, who had spent 18 months in police custody at the Windhoek Central Prison’s holding cells awaiting the finalisation of the case, was tried and punished in terms of the provisions of Combating of Rape Act of 2000.

The conviction and sentence of Kuhlewind followed a finding by Damaseb that Kuhlewind was not so intoxicated from crack and marijuana that he did not know what he was doing when he put one of his fingers into the private parts of a seven-year-old girl, causing some bleeding.

The incident took place at a house in the Hakahana area of Katutura on 18 June 2008.

More primary schools in the Kavango Region are set to close due to small learner numbers and in an effort to preserve State funds.

The first school closed early this year was the Cacuma Primary School, situated in a remote area of the Shinyungwe Circuit east of Rundu, following a Kavango Regional Education office directive as the few learners there resulted in the waste of State resources.

Kavango Regional Education Deputy Director Fanuel Kapapero told Nampa today that only six learners had enrolled at the Cacuma Primary School this year, adding that the Education Ministry’s norm is to have at least 35 learners per class.

He noted that some schools have as little as 20 learners and only two teachers.

Kapapero said the region has a lot of schools – 330, but most of these schools are not even of such a standard that they can be called schools.