A 53-year-old Chimanimani man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping his 11-year-old younger brother’s daughter.
He will however serve an effective 15 years after three were suspended on condition he will not be convicted of a similar offence in the next 5 years.
The man (53), of Mashati village under Chief Mutambara in Chimanimani who cannot be named because his victim is a minor, was convicted by Mutare regional magistrate Livingstone Chipadze on two counts of rape.
The minor was in Grade 6 when the offence was committed on August 5 last year.
On the day in question, the accused had accompanied his brother’s daughter to a school meeting at Mhandarume Primary School in the area.
Along the way, the man diverted the juvenile from the footpath which they were using into a nearby bush.
He raped the minor once and threatened her with death if she ever spilled the beans.
However, a fellow villager identified him and made a report to fellow parents at the school meeting. But the man was not immediately arrested.
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Again on August 29 the same year, he secretly entered the house in which the minor was sleeping with her siblings.
He removed the minor’s clothes while she was fast asleep and raped her once. But as he was sneaking out of the bedroom, the juvenile positively identified him.
When the case came to light, the juvenile was taken for medical examination and results revealed she had been raped and deflowered in the process.
A police investigation led to the man’s arrest.
In passing sentence Chipadze noted the moral blameworthiness of the accused was very high as he failed to respect his brother’s daughter.
He noted the rape would traumatise the minor because she will live with the reality that her father’s brother raped her.
Malvern Musarurwa prosecuted.
