A 14-year-old Zimbabwe boy was sentenced to four strokes of the cane for allegedly raping his neighbour who is a 24-year-old mentally challenged women.
My Zimbabwe reports that the boy who is a Grade Six pupil had invited the woman to his house after her mother left her at home and ra,ped her.
The Chitungwiza Regional Magistrate Court handed him the sentence after he pleaded guilty to the charges of ra.pe before magistrate Estere Chivasa, who sentenced him to receive a moderate punishment of the cane.
In handing down the sentence, Chivasa took into account that the boy was a juvenile and sending him to prison would be too harsh.
However, on the other hand, the magistrate said letting the boy walk scot-free would trivialise the matter.
“It is the court’s duty to see that mentally-challenged people are protected.
Letting the accused free will trivialise the matter and the community will lose confidence with the courts, hence a moderate sentence would meet justice to the case,” ruled Chivasa.
The prosecutor Tendai Mukariri, proved that the boy went to his neighbour’s house at around 1pm after the woman’s mother left her alone when she went to water their garden.
After realising that the woman was alone at home, the boy approached her and ordered her to accompany him to his house. The woman complied and upon arrival, the boy invited her into his bedroom and raped her.
However, he ran out of luck after a fellow villager spotted him taking the woman inside the house. The villager peeped through the window and saw the boy sexually assaulting the woman. After that, the villager informed the woman’s mother about the sexual assault.
