ATTEMPTED RAPE OF MINORS AT MALINDZA RECEPTION CENTRE

SITEKI – A fight ensued at Malindza Reception Centre, which houses refugees, after one of the males allegedly attempted to rape two minors.

The man is suspected to have imbibed in marula brew prior to the incident. The young girls, who were sleeping on the floor in one of the houses at the camp, together with their three-year-old brother are aged 13 and 14. Worth mentioning is that, about 400 foreigners reside in the camp and their countries of origin are mainly Rwanda, South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi and Ethiopia, to mention a few. According to the mother of the girls, who happens to also be a pastor, they were asleep at around 11pm when the incident occurred. The woman, *Daphne, claimed that together with her husband, they were awoken by screams from the girls who were sleeping on the floor.

She said when they rushed out of bed, they were met by a half-naked man inside the room. The mother of the girls said they raised the alarm. The man, who is known in the camp, stays in one of the houses. She said her husband tried to grab him but he fell and stabbed the three-year-old son while attempting to flee. However, there were attempts to try to catch the man. The three-year-old son sustained a minor bruise near the head.

Door

Daphne said their room’s door handle had broken, which was why the man had easy access to the room. She added that her children were still traumatised and this was evident in that they were scared to sleep in fear of the unknown. “My children are still traumatised and we are living in an unsafe environment. The man entered the room at around 11pm and headed straight for the children who slept on the floor. We heard screams and when we tried to ascertain what was happening, the man who speaks one of my languages tried to flee but fell as he was suspected to have drunk marula brew. I could smell the strong stench from his breath,” she claimed.

Police

Daphne said she reported the matter to the Mpaka Police Station on Saturday morning and the police officers promised to come and check them at the camp. She said the police had not yet visited the camp by yesterday to investigate the matter. “When I got there, they wrote something on a piece of paper and told me that they would come and check on me but up until today (yesterday), they haven’t checked on us. We are afraid and living in fear with my children,” Daphne said. She added that she had called the Ministry of Home Affairs to request its intervention on this matter. “We were promised that officials would be dispatched to the camp and investigations be undertaken,” she added. She said she called the ministry and they promised to attend to the matter. “We don’t have peace at the camp. We were attacked by this man who wanted to rape my daughters and my son was stabbed in the process. We are living in fear because we don’t know whether the man would attack us again,” Daphne said.   

Matter

However, Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni said the matter had not yet been reported. “We do not have a report of any attempted rape from the refugee camp,” she said. Meanwhile, last month, a 27-year-old Mozambican national appeared before Siteki Senior Magistrate Donald Mavuso charged with the rape of a minor aged 11. Jaivas Edu Shongo of Mhlumeni area under Chief Mlimi Maziya was charged for contravening Section 33 (1) as read with Section 3 (2) and Section 3 (9) (b) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act No. 15/2018 in that upon or about January 22, 2022 and at or near Mhlumeni area in the Lubombo Region, the said accused person did commit the offence of rape by having an unlawful sexual act with a female minor aged 11.

The rape was accompanied by aggravating factors as envisaged by Section 185 bis of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act No.67, 1938 as amended that the accused person did not use a condom thus exposing the survivor to the risk of contracting sexual transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS. The accused person used threats of violence to induce submission to the victim and that in the event of conviction; the particulars would be included in the national register for sex offenders.

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