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Crime Reporter
A 13-year-old girl from Matobo District in Matabeleland South is pregnant after she was raped by a juvenile who was employed as a general worker at the family homestead.
The victim and the suspect were left at the homestead by the parents who had gone to South Africa. Police have since arrested the suspect aged 16 in connection with the case.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident: “The suspect and the victim were left at the homestead after the victim’s parents had gone to South Africa. The offence came to light after the victim’s mother returned from SA on Christmas Day and found her daughter pregnant,” he said.
Early this month, another Mutoko 13-year-old girl was six-months pregnant after she was raped by a ‘certain man’ when she had visited her mother for the holidays in Kambuzuma, Harare, in April this year.
Investigations revealed that the girl who was doing grade seven visited her mother from Mutoko sometime in April before she was raped.
The incident came to light when she returned to her aunt’s place in Mutoko where she was medically examined and discovered that she was pregnant.
Another 13-year-old Chitungwiza girl was raped at a workshop in the area in July and is now three-months pregnant, with police investigating, although the rapist is yet to be accounted for. The girl had been medically examined.
The latest case came at a time when an 8-year-old was heavily pregnant in Bindura, Mashonaland Central after she was recently raped. Two suspects, both 17-years-old, have been arrested.
A 9-year-old girl from Tsholotsho recently made headlines after she gave birth. Her father had been picked up by police on August 29, on suspicion he was responsible for the pregnancy, but DNA tests showed that the young mother’s 13-year-old cousin was responsible.
The DNA tests were done by the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and released on November 25. So now the two young parents were counselled by the police Victim Friendly Unit.
The State then resorted to conducting DNA tests after the minor declined to name the person who assaulted her.
NUST’s Applied Genetic Testing Centre offered to conduct the tests for free as part of giving back to society.
DNA tests are also set to be performed on the child of the 8-year-old Bindura girl when she delivers, as two teenage brothers accused of raping her have flatly denied the charges.
Online Reporter