-Boyfriend, 26, faces defilement charges
A 13-year-old girl missed three of her Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) this week, skipping school to visit her 26-year-old ‘boyfriend’ instead.
Police have since arrested the man, a resident of Matsaudi village located roughly 20km out of Maun, on suspicion of defilement.
The Standard Seven student had already missed Monday’s exams: Setswana paper 1, which is composition and letter, as well as Religious and Moral Education, when the man was detained on Tuesday morning.
The child was not able to get to school in time to sit the Mathematics paper 1, which was written that same Tuesday morning.
“She only started her exams today,” revealed area councillor, Kobamelo Baikgodise in an exclusive interview with The Voice on Wednesday.
Baikgodise explained that when the girl did not show up for her exams on Monday, concerned teachers went to look for her at her home but she was not in.
When she failed to show up again the following morning, they called Baikgodise for help and the girl was reported to the police as a missing person.
“I was called by the school, that there is a learner who is missing from examination room and that they have contacted the parents to no avail. I then visited the girl’s family and contacted her uncle and we involved the police in the search,” said the councillor.
The girl was promptly found at her ‘boyfriend’s’ place in Matsaudi, where according to the family ‘she sometimes disappears to’.
Officer Commanding for District number 5 policing area, Peter Gochela confirmed the man is likely to be charged with defilement.
“Initially the case was reported as that of a missing child. But then information surfaced during investigations that she was confined somewhere by a man. The case is still fresh but he will be charged accordingly,” said Gochela, adding that as of Wednesday evening, the suspect is still in police custody.