Combating of Rape Act, No. 8 of 2000
To provide for the combating of rape; to prescribe minimum sentences for rape; to provide
for the abolition of the rule that a boy under the age of fourteen years is presumed
incapable of sexual intercourse; to provide for the modification of certain rules of evidence
applicable to offences of a sexual or indecent nature; to impose special duties on
prosecutors in criminal proceedings relating to sexual offences; to impose special duties on
members of the police in respect of certain bail applications; to amend the Criminal
Procedure Act, 1977, so as to insert a certain definition; to make provision for the rights of
a complainant of rape in bail proceedings; to further regulate the granting of bail to
persons charged with rape; to further regulate the circumstances in which certain criminal
proceedings shall not take place in open court; to extend the prohibition of the publication
of certain information relating to certain offences; to further regulate the admissibility of
evidence relating to similar offences by an accused; and to further regulate the
admissibility of evidence relating to the character of a complainant of rape or an offence of
an indecent nature; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
(Signed by the President on 19 April 2000)
BE IT ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of Namibia, as follows:-
Definitions
1. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates-
“complainant”, in relation to an offence of a sexual or indecent nature, means a person towards
or in connection with whom any such offence is alleged to have been committed, irrespective of
whether or not that person has actually laid a complaint or gives evidence in the criminal
proceedings in question;
“perpetrator” means a perpetrator as referred to in section 2(1);
“sexual act” means –
(a) the insertion (to even the slightest degree) of the penis of a person into the vagina or anus or
mouth of another person; or
(b) the insertion of