Rapist teenager to get whipping

Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
A 17-YEAR-OLD boy from Esigodini has been sentenced to four strokes for raping his neighbour’s 10-year-old daughter.

The boy was convicted on his own plea of guilty to rape by Gwanda regional magistrate, Mr Mark Dzira.

Mr Dzira sentenced him to receive four strokes that will be administered with a rattan cane at Gwanda Prison.

Prosecuting, Mr Pearson Chekeya said the boy raped the juvenile after he met her in a bushy area while she was on her way home on November 13 at around 1PM.

“On 13 November, the juvenile was coming from her grandmother’s homestead located in a different village going back to her parents’ homestead. She met the accused who asked her to help him lift wooden poles onto a wheel barrow. The juvenile agreed to assist him as she knew him as a neighbour.

“He then offered to walk the juvenile home and along the way he started proposing love to her. She refused but he persisted until he grabbed her by the hand and tripped her to the ground,” he said.

Mr Chekeya said he covered the juvenile’s mouth with his hand to stop her from screaming and then used another hand to remove her clothes while he pinned her to the ground with his body. He said he raped the juvenile and while he committed this act, he heard voices of people that were passing by.

@DubeMatutu