Win for media freedom in ruling against rape accused

A former police officer, now working as a police reservist and a sports photographer, specialising in taking pictures of young athletes, is on trial in Namibia, facing multiple counts of rape as well as making and selling child pornography. Details of the charges against him, and the allegations of how he operated, have caused great concern in Namibia. As his trial nears the end, however, the accused, Johann Wikus Maree, has sued a local newspaper for a report it carried about the case. Carmel Rickard had been following the defamation case, concerned that Maree’s claims, if successful, would have made reporting continuing trials almost impossible. In her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, she looks at the case and its outcome.