By Loushe Jordaan Gilbert

Society usually perceives sexual offending as crimes committed by adult men against women, and/or children of both sexes. Those who commit sex offenses against minors and younger children are often believed to be paedophiles, but this is not always the case.

Unfortunately, juveniles themselves are also responsible for committing serious sex offenses against other minors, and on the Cape Flats this has become more prevalent.

Following the news that a 15-year-old boy in Bonteheuwel had been arrested and is appearing in court for alleged sexual abuse on other younger children, it once again raised the question around what would lead a child to commit a crime of this nature.

Speaking to VOC News, residents across the metro felt that in most cases the perpetrators of child-on-child abuse are often victims of abuse themselves.

“It is very difficult to try and rationalise why a child would rape another child, but they are exposed to so many things at home, school, social media, etc. The reality is that even if parents actively teach children right from wrong, society will somehow place pressure on our children to do things like this because it is almost made too appealing and seen as a norm.”

“There are many factors that could lead a child to do something like this. Children are exposed or at times introduced to pornography either at home or via the internet and there’s no parental guidance when it comes to what they watch, it could even be that the perpetrator is also a being abused. Poverty is not an excuse, but we have seen what people can do when money comes into play, so one cannot even rule out the possibility that they might be paid for doing crimes of this nature,” a resident from Bonteheuwel said.

“We have discovered that child rape is occurs because the child who is committing the crime is also somehow a victim of abuse and just acting out what is being done to them. This is not an excuse but it’s the reality for many,” added Mitchells Plain CPF member Byron De Villiers.

“This is a difficult topic, behaviour like this should be assessed to find the root cause of the issue,” a resident from Hanover Park shared.

Director at the Ihata Shelter Nuraan Osman shared insight around cases that the institution has dealt with.

“There is a lack of resources, knowledge, information, and education available to our youth. Our children are seeing certain things especially those living in small spaces with several family families in a household or even a room. They don’t really know what is right and wrong because they have no guidance. It could also be a lack of having a role model,” she stressed.

A lecturer at Stellenbosch University said the topic of child-on-child abuse is very broad, with multiple factors that leads a child to commit these crimes.

“This is a devastating situation and reflects poorly not only on the child but also the parents. The child would need appropriate rehabilitation assistance and parents should also be held accountable to a certain degree. The child’s upbringing and societal factors should also be considered when dealing with cases like this,” he stated.

When asked what the appropriate punishment for child-on-child abuse is, these were some of the responses.

“It should be done on a case-by-case basis, because sometimes children are not doing this out of their own freewill, sometimes they are coerced into doing it. Parents also need to have the open and honest conversations, even if it may seem taboo,” explained a first-time mother.

“We don’t condone behaviour like this, but in some cases children do so because they are forced and those children need help, but on the flip side, there are children who do it due to peer pressure or they just want to be cool, so those children would need to be punished, maybe not sending them to jail, but making them do community work, volunteering somewhere or maybe attending seminars presented by ex-convicts so they can actually witness how easy it is to end up on the wrong side of the law,” detailed De Villers.