Toddler ‘raped’, offered two slices of bread

By Codelia Mondela

A man from Turk Mine in Inyathi allegedly raped a four-year-old child and gave her two slices of bread to buy her silence. A court heard that the Early Childhood Development (ECD) pupil went to play on the man’s verandah with her two minor friends.

When her friends later went to their home, they left her playing by herself and the 34-year-old man then allegedly called her to his room where he allegedly raped her.

The man is facing rape charges. He was not asked to plead by Bulawayo regional magistrate Mrs Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze who remanded him in custody to December 7 since the State had not served him with papers.

For the State, Miss Concilia Ncube alleged that the man raped the child in August this year.

“On August 15 at around 11AM, the juvenile was playing with her two friends on the man’s verandah and after a while her friends left for their homes. The man took advantage of the child’s being alone, called her to his room and she complied,” she said.

Miss Ncube said the man undressed the minor and laid her on his bed. He allegedly raped her once. The minor screamed and the man quickly released her.
“He helped her put her clothes back on and gave her two slices of bread.

“The minor went home with the bread and her mother asked where she had got the bread. She told her what had happened in the man’s house and the matter was reported to the police,” she said. The Chronicle