MUTARE — A 42-year-old man has been jailed for 12 years for raping his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter.
Report by Obey Manayiti, Staff Reporter
Anselmo Meso, of Harare, but employed in Kwekwe as an electrician, was convicted by Mutare regional magistrate Trynos Utahwashe on Wednesday.
He will, however, serve an effective nine-year jail term after three were suspended on condition he would not commit a similar crime in the next five years. Charges against Meso were that on December 5 last year at around 1am, he arrived at his girlfriend’s house in the company of police officers who were investigating a case in which he was allegedly assaulted by unknown assailants during a beer- drinking binge.
They knocked at the door and the complainant woke up to attend to the knock after police identified themselves positively.
At that time, the mother of the juvenile was away, visiting an aunt in the neighbourhood and had left the minor home with her three-year-old brother.
After police failed to get the information they wanted from the girlfriend, they left the house along with Meso who, however, returned moments later. Meso knocked at the door, but the juvenile did not respond. He then broke the door and went to the bedroom where the minor was sleeping.
The State submitted that he proceeded to remove the juvenile’s clothes as she was sleeping and raped her once.
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The juvenile screamed for help and a neighbour came to her rescue, causing the arrest of Meso after discovering he had sexually ravaged the juvenile.
A medical examination confirmed the abuse.
Malvern Musarurwa prosecuted.
