There is need for organisations to work with communities to address this issue, in particular to encourage families and others to support children who come forward to report rape or other sexual abuse as delays in reporting sometimes compromise the legal case and may contribute to the alleged rapist being acquitted. While the Protocol talks of Post-Trial Support as being part of the minimum package victims ought to receive from service providers such as Social Services, nowhere is this as important as in those cases where the court case has been unsuccessful. In this instance, the victim is shamed and stigmatized by the community and in some instances by the family. However, in Chipo’s case as in most of the cases in this booklet, this critical post trial support has been missing. The result is that children like Chipo are left to try and deal with community stigma on their own and this results in children sometimes refusing to go back to school for fear of being laughed at, or deciding to move away from the area entirely, abandoning family, friends and even school. This is part of the on-going trauma experienced by rape victims. Chipo’s case also highlights the importance of working with communities in raising awareness about rape. A seemingly failed prosecution has huge repercussions on communities. The community does not always understand that a failed prosecution does not mean the accused was not guilty or that the victim was lying. There is need for communities to be made aware of how and why prosecutions fail and the importance of reporting rape timeously in order to increase the chances of successful prosecution. Justice for Children is following up on Chipo’s case and is at present awaiting the magistrate’s written judgment in order to better understand why and how the accused was acquitted. Chipo might come back to her old school in a year’s time. Her headmistress has promised to ensure that she has a place when she is ready. For now she remains with her maternal grandmother, attending school in her rural home. Revai and her sister are now estranged as Joyce has stuck by her husband and thus become alienated from the rest of the family who have all stood by Chipo and Revai. Contact between the survivor and the alleged offender [must] be minimized en route to court, at the court and at home to the fullest possible extent. Where an alleged perpetrator lives in the same home or community as the survivor, it is preferable for the survivor to be supported to remain in their home and alternative arrangements be made for the accommodation of the alleged perpetrator, for example through securing Protection Orders with conditions requiring the perpetrator to leave the home” Protocol 16 12