PARENTS and villagers gathered in a small Mpumalanga courtroom on Tuesday where six boys aged between nine and 11 appeared on charges of allegedly gang-raping a 10-year-old girl. The boys, who are all Grade 3 pupils at a primary school in Nhlazatje, Badplaas, were not asked to plead in the Elukwatini magistrate’s court and were released into their parents’ custody. The case was postponed to October 16. The boys had to share a police cell on Monday night after they were arrested in connection with raping a 10-year-old classmate after school on Wednesday last week. A policeman said the boys, one of whom is aged nine, four aged ten and the oldest aged 11, apparently took turns raping the girl in the veld, until passing high school girls rescued her. The girl identified her alleged attackers at school on Monday after a doctor confirmed she had been raped. – African Eye News Service