Boys as young as five are capable of raping - even anally - but offenders like the four boys who allegedly raped a three-year-old girl at the weekend must be treated as children in need, and not as criminals.
And the way they are treated over the following weeks and months will determine whether they later become "troubled teenagers" or well-adjusted boys who have learnt to appreciate the wrong they have done.
This is the opinion of both anti-rape lobbyists and child welfare specialists, who have called for a calm and rational response to the shocking realisation that pre-pubescent boys are physically capable of sexual penetration.
South Africans, already traumatised by rampant rape at the hands of sick adults, woke on Wednesday to the news that a three-year-old girl was allegedly raped by four boys aged between seven and 10 in a Soweto backyard last Saturday.
On Thursday they appeared in the Protea Magistrates Court and were charged with indecent assault before being placed in a juvenile place of safety until their next appearance on November 18.
According to police the girl, in the care of her grandmother while her mother attended a wedding, was found by a neighbour naked and crying minutes after she was seen playing with some older children who had run away.
A district surgeon at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital later confirmed the girl had been penetrated.
The mother said this week: "I never knew such young children could get raped. The public must know. They don't think about young rapists, only the older ones. Let the community know - girls must play with girls and boys with boys, they mustn't play together."
While she spoke, her little girl, who turns three at the end of the month, played happily near her feet, seemingly unaware that the visit to the police station concerned her ordeal.
Forensic criminologist Dr Irma Labuscagne called for sensitive handling of the case by authorities.
"I hope that they are understanding people and that they will be emotionally responsible so as to be supportive and understanding of everyone, both the victim and the alleged perpetrators," she said.
She believes that making too much of a fuss where children cross the line when acting out adult roles, can leave them even more troubled.
And no matter how overwhelming the physical evidence might be, childlike innocence could be at play, she said, citing a case where a girl was penetrated by some boys playing "doctor". They inserted a Barbie doll in her vagina to simulate childbirth.
"Even if it was not this innocent and they were playing "mommy and daddy", how do we know that the boys knew that it was wrong, that you only do this with your wife.
"We cannot project our frames of reference from the safety of our middle-class backgrounds on children who probably have nothing," she said.
Miranda Friedmann, assistant director of Women Against Child Abuse said impoverished children left without good supervision, exposed to sex acts in cramped living conditions or in the media were being "overloaded" with information they should not be expected to properly interpret. We place too much responsibility on their young minds by such exposure, she said.
"Do we lock them up, or do we start to address where we went wrong and why there is a lack of family and community back-up and why parents often abrogate their responsibility.
"Children must be taught that there are consequences for violating another child's rights. In this case we have to care for both sides, and possibly put the boys in some institution where they can be nurtured," she said.
Durban's Childline director Joan van Niekerk told of several cases where boys as young as five have achieved penile penetration, even anally.
Although the onset of puberty is generally between age nine to 12 in girls and anywhere between 10 and 15 in boys, adult-like sexual behaviour, as opposed to normal child sexual touching, could be sparked at a much younger age through trauma or abuse.
"We have a case of a five-year-old boy who is sexualised from the trauma of having his family killed in violence. He was found under the body of his grandmother. He initiates anal penetration to get attention and to deal with his loss and grief.
"He will need therapy throughout his childhood so he can learn to deal with his sexual needs himself, it can't be turned off."
Van Niekerk says new legislation is likely to peg criminal capacity at the age of 10, an international benchmark where children under 10 cannot stand trial.