By Nyaradzo Bakari
A 60 year old man from Bulawayo’s Njube suburb has appeared in court for allegedly habitually raping his 11-year-old niece each time she visited him over the school holidays. The man was caught red handed trying to sodomise the minor.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, allegedly raped the Grade Six pupil and continued sexually abusing her, threatening to assault her if she told anyone.
Bulawayo magistrate Mr Joseph Mabeza heard that the matter came to light when the girl wrote a suicide note, citing the abuse as the reason she wanted to end her life.
The letter was discovered by her mother, who filed a report. The man pleaded not guilty to rape, attempted rape and indecent assault. Mr Mabeza remanded him in custody to today for trial.
Prosecuting, Mr Tinashe Dzipe said the accused raped the girl when she visited him during school holidays between 2015 and 2017.
“On an unknown date but in 2015, the complainant went to the accused’s residence for holiday. The accused called the accused to his room and closed the door, before ordering the girl to remove her clothes and lie on the bed. He tried to rape the complainant but failed to penetrate all the way,” he said.
“The accused turned the complainant to lie face down on the bed, telling her that he would sodomise her. However, when he was about to do so, the complainant’s cousin entered the room and the accused quickly wore his trousers.”
Mr Dzipe said the man also tried raping the girl on a separate occasion but was disturbed by the girl’s aunt who called her.
The prosecutor said: “The complainant wrote a suicide note and her mother found it. She questioned her and she told her about the rape and a report was made to the police.” The Chronicle
