Nine year old girl raped, infected with STI

Murewa- IN an incident that has left the community from Nemukuyu village in Murewa shell shocked, a nine year old girl from the area was raped and infected with a sexual transmitted disease.

Medical reports prove the infection of the minor and relatives of the victim have made a passionate appeal for authorities to intervene and ensure justice prevails.

The incident happened in September and up to now, no arrests have been made with police claiming they are waiting for a report from the Murewa social welfare department to effect arrests and take the issue to court.

“The juvenile’s father passed away when she was less than 2 years old and her mother remarried to another husband who is a cousin brother to her late husband. The minor is the last born in a family of three girls. When the issue of the rape was discovered, her mother chose not to liaise with the family of her late husband and instead chose to go it alone and we don’t really know what transpired as she keeps insisting that she will handle the case by herself,” said a source close to the issue.

Investigations revealed that the mother of the juvenile made a report at Murewa Police Station in September and implicated a 16 year old neighbour (name supplied).

“The boy was taken by local police for questioning and he declared his innocence
. We were told that medical tests were done on him and it was discovered that he did not have any signs of a sexuallly transmitted disease,” said a source.

The local community is convinced that there are a number of issues being swept under the carpet in this case.

A post on Murewa Dot Coms, a Facebook page focusing on issues in Murewa implies that the 16 year old boy who was identified as the suspect is merely being used as a sacrificial lamp in this matter.

The post insinuates that a male adult (name not mentioned) is behind the rape of the minor.

It was also revealed during investigations that sometime last year, a village head attempted to rape one of the minors’ siblings, who by then was around 13 years old and the case was swept under the carpet as well.

Said a source, “It is disheartening that these children have apparently fallen prey to sex predators in the area and what is most concerning to us is that the law is not taking its course to bring these culprits to book. In the case of the nine year old, there is need for thorough investigations because the community is convinced that an elderly person is behind the rape and there are attempts by certain individuals to protect the perpetrator. We cannot mention names for now but we can only appeal for law enforcement agents to intervene and ensure that justice is served,” said the source.

Some sources are convinced that the motive behind the rape could have been for ritual purposes.

Efforts to get a comment from the Murewa Social Welfare Department were in vain.

Police Spokesperson for Mashonaland East province, Inspector Simon Chazovachii had promised to comment on the matter but repeated efforts to reach out to him were in vain.

Zimbabwe’s First Lady, Auxillia Mnangagwa is on record saying that child sexual offenders must rot in jail.

Early this month, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Vimbai Nyemba said the country was considering the introduction of the National Sexual Offenders Register to track individuals convicted of sexual offences.
This, she said is critical in ensuring child protection systems in the country.