Court asked to extend definition of rape to men

The Pretoria Director of Public Prosecutions has asked the court to include non-consensual anal rape in that definition, says a Mail & Guardian Online report. Under the law as it stands, this offence is considered indecent assault. The challenge follows the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court\'s conviction of Fanuel Sitakeni Masiya for the rape of a nine-year-old girl even though she was found to have been penetrated anally, but not vaginally. The Pretoria High Court confirmed the judgment, holding that the definition of rape was inconsistent with the Constitution. It found that the distinction between anal and vaginal penetration was arbitrary and the traditional definition of rape archaic. Full report on the Mail & Guardian Online site