The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it is a criminal offence to falsify information to a public authority.
This comes after a 26-year-old Karoi woman was sentenced to five months imprisonment by a Karoi Magistrate for “deliberately supplying false information to a public authority” alleging that she had been raped by a neighbour.
According to the NPA, the woman, who has not been named, made a Police report on 06 March this year alleging that she had been raped by a man from her neighbourhood. The NPA said:
The false statement was recorded after which a docket of rape was opened. On the 14th of March 2024, the accused person made a statement stating that she had made a false report.
She pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 5 months imprisonment of which 3 months was suspended for 5 years. A further 2 months were suspended on condition that she performs 105 hours of community service.
In an unrelated incident, the NPA reiterated that it is a criminal offence to have sexual relations with a young person under the age of eighteen whether they are female or male.
The reminder pertains to an incident involving a 27-year-old man from Karoi who received a 12-month prison sentence from the Karoi Magistrates’ Court after being found guilty of “engaging in sexual intercourse with a young person”.
The court heard that sometime in October 2023, the accused person proposed love to the 15-year-old complainant and she accepted the proposal.
On 09 March 2024, the girl stole her sister-in-law’s house keys which had been left in her mother’s care and went and slept in the house without her sister-in-law’s knowledge.
The following day she took the accused person to the said house where they engaged in sexual relations overnight. The girl’s mother found her in the house on 22 March.
When asked what she was doing there, she revealed that she had been intimate with the accused person. A police report was made, leading to the arrest of the man.
He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment of which 6 months was suspended for 5 years.
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