{"id":98658,"date":"2024-09-17T12:08:33","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T10:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term"},"modified":"2024-09-17T14:11:36","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:11:36","slug":"high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term","title":{"rendered":"High Court quashes Gr 7 boy\u2019s 15-year jail term"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>THE High Court has quashed the proceedings in which a 12-year-old Grade 7 pupil was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail for raping a five-year-old minor.<\/p>\n

High Court judges Justices Munamato Mutevedzi and Ngoni Nduna ordered the release of the juvenile after quashing all the proceedings.<\/p>\n

They said the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe should pursue the case before a different regional magistrate.<\/p>\n

It was the State\u2019s case that on February 12 this year, the boy, from Mafa village under Chief Nemangwe in Gokwe South, raped the toddler.<\/p>\n

The infant had been left in the care of the boy\u2019s grandmother, who had gone to attend a meeting at a nearby pre-school and left the victim in the custody of the accused.<\/p>\n

The boy reportedly took her to a bedroom at the homestead before raping her.<\/p>\n

During trial the accused, who appeared with his guardian, told court that he did not need representation.<\/p>\n

In their judgment, Justices Mutevedzi and Nduna said where an unrepresented childappeared before a court facing any offence, the court could not ignore the question of having a legal practitioner assigned to assist that child.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court must, as of necessity, approach the matter with single-minded benevolence. As a general rule, therefore, because of the severity of sentences imposable for rape convictions, a court must not proceed to try and convict a child without legal representation. If that is done, it will be evident that there is no power to match that of a court which protects children,\u201d Justice Mutevedzi said.<\/p>\n

He said the trial magistrate failed to apply the cited provisions and equally neglected to advise the accused and his guardian that on conviction, the accused risked being sentenced to lengthy imprisonment.<\/p>\n

The judge said if the trial magistrate had told the guardian, he could have changed his mind and acquired legal representation, adding that he thought the child would receive corporal punishment.<\/p>\n

According to the court record, when the boy was finally sentenced and the guardian was asked if he understood the sentence, his reaction was utter astonishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could only manage to exclaim \u201815 years!\u2019 I could have quashed this conviction on this basis alone, but there is a worse problem with it,\u201d Justice Mutevedzi said, adding that the trial magistrate erred in not asking the accused what his understanding of rape or sexual intercourse was.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his sentencing judgment, the magistrate approbated and reprobated. His contradictory approach was graphic. In one breath, he stated as follows: The offender is aged 12 years, but judging by the results of sexual abuse, he is mature enough to understand his act and its criminality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take the view that on account of his age at the time of the commission of the offence, he had a level of immaturity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The judge said the two findings were wrong in that they were mutually exclusive and that the question of criminal capacity had nothing to do with sentencing, saying it had everything to do with liability.<\/p>\n

Justice Mutevedzi said in cases involving children, psychologists invariably knew better than lawyers, adding that had the trial magistrate taken heed of this, he would have decided the case in another way.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy calculations show that if he is now in Grade Seven, he has only been staying with her for less than two years. His father is still absent. Clearly, therefore, he is a boy who has never had proper fatherly guidance for almost all of his life,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurther, the report highlighted that the accused may have committed the offence due to peer pressure exerted by his friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the investigations, the child thought that he was playing with the complainant when they had sexual intercourse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justice Mutevedzi, in conclusion, said his court opted for refusal to certify the proceedings saying that way, it protected the accused from being dragged back for a retrial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am constrained to hold that there was a substantial miscarriage of justice by failing to investigate whether or not the boy had the requisite criminal capacity. The conviction must be vacated,\u201d the judge said while setting aside the 15-year sentence in agreement with Justice Nduna.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. THE High Court has quashed the proceedings in which a 12-year-old Grade 7 pupil was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail for raping a five-year-old minor. High Court judges Justices Munamato Mutevedzi and Ngoni Nduna ordered the release of the juvenile after quashing all the proceedings. They said the National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":98657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,35,12,2715],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-98658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nHigh Court quashes Gr 7 boy\u2019s 15-year jail term - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE High Court has quashed the proceedings in which a 12-year-old Grade 7 pupil was convicted and sentenced to 15 years ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"High Court quashes Gr 7 boy\u2019s 15-year jail term\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE High Court has quashed the proceedings in which a 12-year-old Grade 7 pupil was convicted and sentenced to 15 years ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-17T10:08:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-17T12:11:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/09\/sm_1726562467.799087.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"485\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"High Court quashes Gr 7 boy\u2019s 15-year jail term\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-17T10:08:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-17T12:11:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term\"},\"wordCount\":713,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/09\/sm_1726562467.799087.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/high-court-quashes-gr-7-boys-15-year-jail-term\",\"name\":\"High Court quashes Gr 7 boy\u2019s 15-year jail term - 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