Shock rise in child sex offender cases

shall produce a forced fruit immature and flavourless, fruit which will be rotten before it is ripe,” Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote in his 18th century work, Emile – a seminal treatise on the education of the “whole” person for citizenship.
His thoughts depict a picture of events taking place in Zimbabwe as minors increasingly become rapists and commit sexual crimes, some of them too horrifying to imagine.
Statistics of reported cases that have reached the courts in the past few weeks show an increase in the number of juvenile sex offenders.
Last week, three juveniles separately appeared before the courts and were all convicted of rape.
A nine-year-old boy from Chitsvatsva Village in Seke appeared before a Chitu-ngwiza magistrate facing five counts of rape.
He raped girls aged between six and eight years.
The boy was sentenced to a wholly-suspended three-year jail term.
The magistrate ordered him to receive two strokes of the cane for the first two counts of rape.
In another case, a Harare magistrate convicted two Glen View brothers – aged 14 and 16 years – of raping their niece.
They were each sentenced to wholly suspended three-year prison terms.
In yet another incident, a 16-year-old boy raped his neighbour’s seven-year-old daughter last month.
He was sentenced to three years which were wholly suspended and will receive five strokes with a light rattan cane instead.
Social scientists and child rights organisations say several factors, chief among them increased exposure to violence and sex through technological advancement, could be to blame for the worrying trend.
They also say a history of sexual abuse in the family also contributes significa-ntly to creating juvenile offenders.
The chair of the University of Zimba-bwe’s Psychology Department, Mr Java-ngwe Gwatirera, said: “There are quite a number of issues that relate juveniles indulging in sexually harmful behaviour.
“Young children can develop deviant sexual interests.
“Many children nowadays have access to high levels of technology and they are exposed to a lot of things at an earlier age.
“The Internet has become very dangerous, particularly to our children as they are exposed to cyber bullying and cyber sex.
“Children then want to experiment what they have seen,” he said.
The university lecturer said many parents subscribed to the myth that children could not cognitively evaluate sexual signals and act upon them.
Mr Gwatirera said prior sexual abuse of the child could result in him or her also becoming abusive.
“In many of these cases, some children could have been sexually assaulted. The issue of sex and sexuality remains taboo in our culture and these children normally fail to disclose what they have encountered.”
He said there was need for strong support structures to help abused children and ensure that they too do not become abusers.
Justice for Children Trust Programme Director Mr Caleb Mutandwa is also of the view that exposure to sex and violence on television and the Internet are behind the increased reports of juvenile offenders.
“The problem is that children are exposed to a lot of things at an earlier stage than before and they want to experiment all that,” he said.
Mr Mutandwa said the criminal justice system should be geared towards rehabilitation of these young offenders.
“After the conviction, the criminal justice system should be ready to rehabilitate the child.
“Professional counselling is important as punishment alone is not enough.
“The child must realise his or her mistake and should be treated in a manner of respecting others,” he said.
Sociologist Professor Gordon Chavu-nduka attributed substandard living conditions as a contributory factor.
“Lack of proper accommodation is one of the causes of these acts as children and parents sleep in the same bedroom.
“Children will try to experiment what they have seen their parents doing,” he said.

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