A 15-year old boy was Wednesday arraigned for allegedly having sex with a seven year old girl and he was remanded to police custody.

The names of the accused and the virtual complainant have been withheld because local laws bar their publication to protect their identities as a minor and victim respectively.

Appearing before Magistrate Hazel Octive Hamilton, the lad was not required to plea to the indictable charge of sexually penetrating a girl under 16-years old. He allegedly committed the act on February 2 at Cornelia Ida.

He will re-appear in court on February 10.

The magistrate refused bail after Police Prosecutor Lionel Harvey said the boy was before the court for a similar charge for which he had been granted bail. The prosecutor also told the court that the teenager’s mother could not exercise sufficient parental guidance.

The girl’s grandmother, outside the courtroom, told reporters that the boy had picked up her up from school on a friend’s bicycle. He allegedly lied to the girl, telling her that her mother had sent him to collect her.

After having sex with the girl, he allegedly made her walk home where she collapsed on arrival.

The accused had used a friend’s bicycle, which the girl identified, to pick her up from school.