By Bahle Gama
A 23-year-old man has been arrested and charged with raping a minor. The suspect, Sanele Shalom Dlamini of Mangwaneni allegedly committed the offence on March 8 at Mangwaneni, whereby he reportedly committed an unlawful sexual act with an eight-year-old girl who is by law, incapable of appreciating the nature of the sexual act.
By so doing, Dlamini contravened Section 3 (1) (2) and Section 3 (3) (c) as read with Section 3 (9) (b) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act 15 of 2018.
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The offence is accompanied by aggravating factors as envisaged by Section 185 bis of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act 67 of 1938, in that when committing the offence, he exposed the victim to sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS.
The victim is below the age of 18 years at the time the offence was committed and thus could not appreciate the nature of the sexual act performed on her.
Appearing before Magistrate Chazile Thwala, Dlamini’s right to legal representation was explained to which he elected to hire the services of an attorney.
He was remanded back to police custody until March 21, pending committal at the High Court.
