12 years jail for rapist dad

By Amanda Ncube

A 51-year-old man from Lupane who raped his 15-year-old stepdaughter and conspired with his wife to cover up the crime has been convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The man from Mpaceni Village pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Mr Chrispen Mberewere last week facing rape and indecent assault charges. The magistrate sentenced the man to 15 years in jail. He described him as a predator.

Mr Mberewere said: “There is clear danger of minors being infected with diseases where people with sexual experience sleep with young girls who do not know anything. The courts can only help the society by removing such people from the society. It is clear that such crimes are causing the perpetuity of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. A stepfather is supposed to look after his child regardless of whether it’s his biological child or not but when they become predators it shows that there is something wrong.”

“You are sentenced to 15 years for two counts, of which three years is suspended on condition that for five years you do not commit the same offence. You are therefore sentenced to 12 years in prison effective,” he said.

Prosecuting, Mr Simbarashe Manyiwa said on a date unknown but in May 2016 the man asked his stepdaughter to help him ferry sorghum from a bushy area. It was the State case that when the two got to the fields the stepfather took a wooden rod and threatened to beat up his stepdaughter for disrespecting her mother. He then grabbed her by the legs and forced her to lie down on the ground.

The court heard that he forcibly had sexual intercourse with her without her consent and told her that if she told anyone it will be a sign of disrespect. The court heard that on count two, during the same month of May, the stepfather called his stepdaughter when she was about to go to sleep. He started fondling her breasts, grabbed her legs and lifted her with her head hanging downwards.

It was the State’s case that the matter came to light when the stepfather went to Luthe Village. His stepdaughter narrated what had happened to her mother who promised to settle the matter within the family.

She also told a member of the community based Child Protection Committee as well as her headmistress who convinced her to report the matter to the police.

On 17 November 2016, the matter was reported to the Nkayi police leading to her stepfather’s arrest. The girl was taken to Nkayi District Hospital for medical examination. Sunday News