The cases of sexual violence against minors tend to increase nationwide, as revealed in a paper published by the newspaper Sunday. These crimes are often committed by people close to the victims, who even share some parental degree.

In fact, between January 2022 and March 2023, the Forensic Medicine Department of the Maputo Central Hospital registered 361 cases, of which 64 were victimized boys. In the first quarter of this year, 74 victims were attended, four of whom were boys.

On average, Mavalane General Hospital registers 30 cases of sexual violence per month, five of which are against children between zero and nine years of age. In the first quarter of the year it recorded 15 cases of rape of girls between the ages of 12 and 16.

Between January and March 2023, in Inhambane 64 cases were registered, and in the same period this year it rose to 86 cases of rape against minors.

In the district of Homoíne, an eight-year-old child was raped for several days by three young men. The accused always surrounded the child on her way home from school until she gave up her studies for fear of being reunited with the rapists. The minor is receiving medical assistance.

In Sofala, in the first quarter of 2022, 60 cases were registered, and this year, in the same period, 71 cases of rape against minors were registered.

In Beira City, a seven-year-old minor was raped by a 43-year-old adult. For some time the boy was reported missing by his family. He was located a day after the event, bloodied, unable to walk properly. It was thought that he had been run over. The boy is receiving medical and psychological assistance at a hospital in Sofala.

In Manica the authorities have already registered 97 reports of cases of rape of minors, and another 54 cases reported in the first quarter of the year.

In Nampula the record is 303 cases of rape of minors. This year 71 cases were registered, 43 in the first quarter.

In 2022, according to the Attorney General's Office, 2610 cases were filed against crimes of sexual assault, an increase of 470 cases if compared to 2021, with the registration of 2140 criminal cases.

The newspaper we quoted suggests that the rapists are often people very closely related to the victims, such as fathers, uncles, grandfathers, and cousins. But this group also includes renters of residences.

The tenants are pointed out as people who use the trick of gaining the sympathy of the house owners or neighborhood to, after three or four months, rape children and teenagers. After committing the crimes, they leave the residences without a trace.

We had many cases like this last year. Many times it is a group of young people who rent a house, and one of them entices a girl and commits the crime? revealed Linha Munguambe, responsible for the Center for Integrated Assistance to Victims of Violence at Mavalane General Hospital.

She called for reporting tenants to neighborhood authorities, reduction of teenagers studying at night, and seeking help as soon as within 72 hours of the rapes to prevent sexually transmitted diseases like HIV.