Teenage rapist to be canned

News
A 15-year-old Lower Gweru teenager escaped jail after a Gweru magistrate ordered that he be caned instead for raping a neighbour’s 11-year-old daughter.

A 15-year-old Lower Gweru teenager escaped jail after a Gweru magistrate ordered that he be caned instead for raping a neighbour’s 11-year-old daughter.

STEPHEN CHADENGA OWN CORRESPONDENT

The teenager had been offered accommodation for the night after helping the neighbours with some domestic chores only to rape the 11-year-old girl.

Regional magistrate Morgan Nemadire ordered that the teenager be caned for the crime after convicting him for contravening Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

A further two years were suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.

It is the State’s case was that on September 12, the boy from the Sogwala area went to Springvale Farm to assist the girl’s relatives with some household work until late into the night.

The teenager was offered accommodation for the night since it was late at night.

He was given a separate blanket to sleep on the same bed with the victim and two other kids. It is alleged that at around 11pm he went into the victim’s blankets and forcibly removed her undergarments before raping her once.

The matter only came to light in October when the girl complained of stomach aches and later told her grandmother that she was raped by the boy.

A medical examination showed that the girl had been sexually abused leading to the arrest of the teenager.