AN 18-year-old has been arrested after he allegedly drugged
his friend before raping her after giving the 14-year-old girl a drink laced
with a drug as a birthday present.
The boy who lives in Spitzkop Medium Suburb in Gwanda was
not asked to plead when he appeared before Gwanda magistrate, Mr Ndumiso
Khumalo. He was remanded in custody to July 14.
The accused person’s name has been withheld to protect the
identity of his victim.
Prosecuting, Mr Noel Mandebvu said the man raped the
14-year-old girl on June 28 after she had accompanied him to his place of
residence.
“On 28 June at around 2PM the accused person met the
complainant who is his friend and asked her to accompany him to his house so
that he could give her a birthday present. She agreed and when they got to his
home he gave her a 500ml bottle of 7UP drink which is suspected to have been
drugged. Ndlovu then took advantage and raped the complainant before releasing
her to go home,” he said.
“When the complainant got home her mother suspected that
she was drunk. She questioned her daughter who narrated what had happened. The
complainant went to hospital for an examination.”
It was discovered that she had been raped and the matter
was reported to the police resulting in the accused person’s arrest.
In another incident a 21-year-old man has been sentenced to
630 hours of community service for having sexual intercourse with his juvenile
girlfriend.
The accused person who cannot be named in order to protect
the victim was convicted on his own plea of guilty to having sexual intercourse
with a young person by Gwanda regional magistrate Mrs Sibonginkosi Mkandla.
The accused person had been initially charged with rape but
the charge was later altered to having sexual intercourse with a young person
due to lack of evidence.
He was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment of which 24
months were suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence
within the next five years. The remaining 24 months were further suspended on
condition that he performs 630 hours of community service at Nkankezi Clinic.
Prosecuting, Mr Khumbulani Nyoni said the accused person
had sexual intercourse with the complainant on March 22 in a bush.
“On 22 March at around 6PM the complainant was searching
for goats in a bushy area when she met the accused person who requested to have
sexual intercourse with her. The complainant refused and insisted on having
sexual intercourse with him on another day as she wanted to go back home early
before her parents became worried,” he said.
“The accused person kept insisting and then grabbed the
complainant and led her into the bush where he raped her. The complainant later
went home and revealed to her mother what had happened. The matter was reported
to the police resulting in the arrest of the accused person,” he said.
The accused person told the court that the complainant had
consented to having sexual intercourse with him as they were lovers. Chronicle
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