Corpun file 22610

NewsDay, Harare, 4 October 2010

15-year-old gets four lashes for fondling minor

By Charles Laiton

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A 15-year-old Ruwa boy was last week convicted of aggravated indecent assault after inserting his finger into a six-year-old girl's private parts.

He was sentenced to four strokes with a light cane.

Regional magistrate Rodgers Kachambwa said he feared something else other than a finger could have been used since the boy lifted the girl's dress to waist level. "As I have said, anything other than a finger could have been used since he lifted her dress to waist level but nobody was in sight at the time when the girl sat on his lap," he said.

Kachambwa chided the boy saying: "You are to be deterred from this conduct and you should learn to respect the bodily integrity of other people. What you did on the minor is not called for.

"Accordingly you are therefore sentenced to receive four strokes with a light cane at Harare Central Prison to be administered in private by a designated officer in the presence of a medical doctor."

Lawyers from Thondlanga and Associates representing the boy had pleaded with the court to pass a lenient sentence. "I plead with the court to keep him out of prison; if incarcerated he may end up being a criminal. I implore the court to impose a more lenient sentence that is meant to rehabilitate and correct the juvenile," the lawyer said.

Sometime in August 2008, the boy and the young girl were playing while basking in the sun at a house in Ruwa, the court heard. The boy is said to have invited the girl to sit on his lap and she agreed. Later he inserted his finger into the girl's private parts and she bled. The girl's mother noticed the bleeding and the girl spilt the beans. She was taken to hospital and a medical report confirmed penetration.

The matter was reported to police and the culprit was arrested. Valerie Ngoma prosecuted.

(c) Newsday Zimbabwe.