Pupil’s letter to school exposes rapist cousin

By The Standard | Nov. 2, 2018 | 2 Min read

A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl from Victoria Falls has caused the arrest of her cousin who allegedly raped her sometime last year by writing a letter to the school head demanding justice after her parents allegedly concealed the matter.

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

The girl, who is a pupil at a private school in the resort town but resides at Aerodrome, was allegedly raped towards the end of last year by her 25-year-old cousin at her family home.

Matabeleland North police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Siphiwe Makonese said the alleged rapist has been arrested.

“That child told her teacher after a lesson about forms of abuse that she had been sexually abused by her cousin. It was sometime in March and the teacher immediately alerted the parents,” she said.

She said the accused person called her into one of the family bedrooms and raped her once. The parents told the school that they were going to solve the matter internally and it was swept under the carpet.

The child was no longer a jovial pupil at school until on October 17 when she decided to write a letter and threw it into the school’s suggestion box. In her letter, she revealed the name and place of residence of her cousin and how he raped her.

The letter was seen by the school head who immediately went to report to the police, leading to the arrest of the accused person.

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Makonese urged teachers, parents and the society at large to continue carrying out abuse lessons. She said the parents were going to be charged for concealing evidence.

“We are battling to contain abuse cases mainly involving the girl child but here we are with parents who protect such offenders,” she said.

“Those parents are going to be charged as well for covering up and letting the child suffer physically and emotionally. The incident happened a year ago but she was let down until she decided to tell her story through a letter.”