A 34-year-old lawyer has been sentenced to 18 years in jail at the Gokwe Magistrates Court for raping a four-year-old juvenile. This was confirmed by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in a statement saying it pushed for a stiff penalty because of the accused’s profession.
The name of the lawyer, who was employed by the Justice Ministry, has been withheld to protect the minor.
“The NPA aggravated for a stiff penalty as the accused person is an employee in the justice delivery sector who knows better about the protection of children and their rights,” NPA said.
Allegations are that sometime early last year, the lawyer, who is alleged to have been a friend to the father of the victim, took the girl to his home claiming he wanted to provide personal security for her after her father had been involved in a physical brawl with an unknown man.
“When they got to the accused person’s house he asked the complainant to lie down on a sofa, removed her underwear and raped her. He told her that he was applying some medicine onto her and afterwards he threatened to beat her if she told her father of the incident,” NPA told the court.
“The matter came to light when the complainant’s aunt saw her scratching her private parts and asked why she was doing so. The complainant then told the aunt about the incident, leading to the arrest of the accused persons.”
Child rights advocate Caleb Mtandwa applauded the stiff sentence to rid the society of paedophiles and rapists.
“Cases of child sexual abuse that continue to be on the increase support the need for mandatory sentences. The government should urgently pass a law on mandatory sentences,” Mtandwa said.
“There should also be a sexual offenders’ register which is published so that those who abuse children are barred from working with children.
“We should continue to educate communities on sexual abuse so that they are aware of what to do when a child is abused and are conscious of the fact that everyone is a potential abuser.”
Government is formulating laws that will provide for mandatory jail sentence for rape offences in response to a sharp increase in sexual violations.
In 2017, government proposed a mandatory 60-year long jail terms for child rapists, and 45 years for criminals convicted of raping or sodomising the people with disabilities.
In other news – 80% pass ZIMSEC 2022 A-Level exams
The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) Advanced Level examination results for November 2022 are now out.
All those who sat for the examinations will be able to access them on the ZIMSEC portal (www.zimsec.co.zw) from 3pm Friday. Learn More
