Blantyre girl escapes rape

A seven-year-old girl (name withheld) last Wednesday told a story of near rape by an unknown man whom she claimed fled just before he could commit the crime.

Her narrow escape is a different tale from the many reported rape and defilement cases happening across the country.

News of the girl having been raped on her way from school spread throughout Manase Township in Malawi’s commercial city of Blantyre last week where she lives with her parents.

In an interview on Thursday, the girl’s mother said people reported the incident to her at noon.

“I saw a group of people approaching my house with my daughter with the news that she had been defiled. I quickly examined her and noticed she was normal. I also called a friend to double-check and she noticed the same.

“I proceeded to take her to the hospital and upon examination, it was established that nothing had been done to her. People who saw her leave the spot concluded that she had been defiled because she was in tears,” said the mother.

She said her daughter told her that a man coerced her into a maize field and undressed her, but rescinded the decision to rape her and fled.

She said the girl told her that she was in a group of friends walking home from school when they met the man.

“The man asked everybody else to leave and took my daughter into a maize field. This is when she said he removed her underwear and his own, but did not proceed to rape her. The man has not been identified,” said the mother.

She said she did not report the matter to police because the girl had not been raped.