BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI
A 16-year-old Victoria Falls boy has been slapped with a five year suspended sentence for impregnating his 14 year-old lover.
The juvenile whose identity is being withheld for ethical reasons was convicted on his own plea of guilty on charges of having sexual intercourse with a minor when he appeared before magistrate Linda Dzvene,
Prosecutors had told the court that sometime in February, the boy met the 14-year-old girl and proposed love to her.
After she agreed to the proposal, the boy invited her to his home in Mkhosana township before taking her to his bedroom where they had consensual sex.
“The accused continued to have sexual intercourse with the complainant several times with her consent,” court records say.
“Sometime in April the complainant’s grandmother from the Jambezi area visited and noticed the complainant’s physical change and upon being interrogated, she revealed that she had been engaging in sexual intercourse with the accused who had impregnated her.”
Asked by the magistrate why he committed the offence, the boy said: “It was because she also wanted us to do it.”
Dzeve, however, said the fact that the girl got pregnant meant that her life had been ruined.
“(The) accused person has ruined the life of the 14 year old,” Dzeve said.
“She is unable to continue with her education and is faced with motherhood at a very early age.
“The complainant’s parents will have to shoulder the burden of taking care of the complainant, who is still a child and her child as well.”
In mitigation, Dzvene said the boy was also still a minor and the fact that the girl tested negative for sexually transmitted diseases lessened the weight of the offence.
“In the end I have postponed the passing of the sentence for the next five years on condition that the accused person does not within that period commit any offence of sexual nature.”