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Lovemore Meya Court Correspondent
The Seke Grade Six pupil who raped his neighbour’s 24-year-old mentally-challenged daughter after inviting her to his house, was last Friday sentenced to receive four strokes of the cane by a Chitungwiza regional magistrate.

The 14-year-old boy pleaded guilty to charges of rape before magistrate Ms Estere Chivasa, who sentenced him to receive a moderate punishment of the can.

In handing down the sentence, Ms Chivasa took into account that the boy was a juvenile and sending him to prison would be too harsh.

However, on the other hand, Ms Chivasa 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 Ms Chivasa.

The prosecutor Mr 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.

The complainant revealed to her mother that the boy had been raping her since December 2012 to March 2013 on several occasions.

The matter was reported to the police, leading to the boy’s arrest.