A 19-YEAR-OLD school head boy with learning difficulties has “admitted” sexually assaulting 10 boys aged between 10 and 12 while they slept a Methodist Church-run school in Murehwa, reports said Wednesday.
Police say partially-blind Importance Muranganwa, who is doing Grade 7 despite his age, abused the boys between July and September this year.
He is due in court on October 21 facing 10 counts of sodomy.
The official Herald newspaper reported Wednesday that one of its reporters had interviewed Muranganwa who blamed his actions on an “evil spirit”.
But in actions that will rile the parents of the alleged abuse victims, school authorities have refused to withdraw Muranganwa from school – insisting that only the government could suspend him.
The school says Murangagwa has been stripped of his position as head boy, but will be allowed to sit his Grade 7 exams which will be conducted before his first court date.
"I don't know what led me to do what I did," Muranganwa is quoted as saying in the Herald. “Please forgive me. An evil spirit was controlling me."
Assistant Inspector Thando Madhoyo, the spokesman for Mashonaland East police, said: "He would wake up when all the pupils in the dormitory were asleep and randomly pick on his dorm-mates.
“He forced them to lie on their bellies before sodomising them. He threatened his victims with death if they reported the matter.
“The abuse went on for three months and came to light on September 17 when one of his victims reported the matter to a prefect. The prefect initially did not believe the allegations, but later agreed to sleep under one of the beds to see if it was true.
“During the night, Muranganwa slipped into the blankets of a 10-year-old boy and started sodomising him. The prefect immediately confronted him and later reported the matter to the deputy headmaster.”
Madhoyo said the abuse allegations emphasised the importance of schools creating “mechanisms that allow children to report such incidents expeditiously”.
Reverend Washington Jembere, the school’s chaplain, said he was mortified by the allegations.
"It would have been better if the matter was quickly prosecuted to ensure that justice is not delayed. We want to assure parents that everything is under control although we are surprised why the children took so long to report when we have a Victim Friendly Unit at the school," he said.