A Binga rapist will be forever thankful to a dentist after the latter saved him from an imminent long jail term.
Artwell Munsaka of Sinampani Village in Binga was dragged before Binga magistrate court facing one count of statutory rape after having had sexual intercourse with a 15 year old girl.
Munsaka admitted to having intercourse with the under-age girl but the court could not immediately establish his age for sentencing.
Munsaka who did not have an identity document nor a birth certificate had to be sent to a specialist dentist to determine his age. The man’s body-build is one of a man in the mid twenties.
The dentist reported that tests revealed that at the time of the offence in September last year Munsaka could have been between the age of 15 and 17 of which the court took the lesser and considered him a juvenile.
The area magistrate resultantly opposed the state’s move for a mandatory minimum nine years imprisonment for statutory rape by an adult. Munsaka was consequently sentenced to a wholly suspended two year jail term and ordered to be given six canes with a medium whip.
The canning was to be administered by the Prisons and Correctional Services at Binga Prison within 24 hours of sentencing.