Daily News, Harare, 7 June 2002

Four strokes for sex with a minor

By Court Reporter

A TEENAGE Zimbabwean actor based in South Africa was on Friday sentenced to receive four strokes of the cane after he was convicted of statutory rape by a Harare magistrates' court.

The 16-year-old boy will have a five-year jail term suspended for the next five years on condition he does not commit any offence involving a breach of the Sexual Offences Act.

He confessed to having sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old girl at his parents' Belgravia home. He told regional magistrate Remigius Jemwa he was in love with the girl at the time he committed the offence.

Prosecutor Francisca Mapfeka said the young actor met the girl at Avondale shopping centre and they immediately fell in love.

Mapfeka said the girl frequently visited the boy's home and when she came on one of her visits on 7 May, the boy persuaded her to spend the night with him as his parents were away.

The teenage lovers allegedly slept in the same bed and the girl spent the following day at the boy's home.

Around 6pm on the next day, the boy took the girl into his bedroom and had sex with her twice.

The offence came to light when the girl did not return home in the evening and her sister went to report to the police.