Herd boy jailed 20 years for rape

AN 18-year-old herd boy was yesterday jailed for 20 years by the Beitbridge Regional Court after he was convicted of raping his employer’s 12-year-old niece.

The herd boy, who resides in the Zezani area under Chief Tshithaudze, is accused of having committed the offence in January this year.

He pleaded not guilty to one charge of rape, but regional magistrate, Mr Innocent Bepura, convicted him on the strength of the State’s evidence.

The convict was left with an effective 15 years’ imprisonment when five years of the 20 were conditionally suspended for five years.

Prosecuting, Mr Willbrought Muleya said the convict was employed as a herd boy by the complainant’s grandfather and they were neighbours in the village.

He said on January 29 this year at around 5am, the boy went to the girl’s homestead and found her alone in one of the rooms.

He then grabbed her and lifted her to another room and closed the door, before raping her. The court heard that the matter came to light when the girl was coming from church in the company of her mother and a friend.

Along the way, the two juveniles remained behind harvesting amarula fruits in a nearby bush.

While on their way home, the two came across the convicted boy and the girl started running away crying and her friend followed.

They got home as she was still crying, prompting the girl’s mother to ask why she was crying, to which she said she was afraid of the boy and then narrated her ordeal.

The matter was then reported to the police resulting in the boy’s arrest.