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Teacher jailed 30 years for rape

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A 28-year-old Chimanimani teacher has been slapped with 30 years in prison for raping his 12-year-old cousin.

A 28-year-old Chimanimani teacher will rue the day he laid his hands on his 12-year-old cousin after he was slapped with 30 years in prison for raping the juvenile.

Report by Staff Reporter

The teacher, whose identity could not be revealed to protect the minor, was convicted at his own plea by Mutare magistrate Trynos Utahwashe yesterday.

He was sentenced to 10 years for each count, but will serve an effective 20 years after the magistrate allowed 10 years on the third count to run concurrently with the second count. It was the State’s case that sometime in July this year, the accused was staying at the complainant’s homestead together with the minor’s mother when he decided to rape the Grade 6 pupil.

On that day, the State submitted that at around 5pm in the evening, the teacher called the juvenile into his bedroom under the pretext of giving her sweets.

The juvenile declined the offer, but the accused kept on persisting until he came to the juvenile’s bedroom where he forced her on the ground and forcibly removed her clothes before raping her once.

On September 23 this year, the accused got into the juvenile’s bedroom where she was polishing her school shoes as she prepared to go to school. He asked to help her polish the shoes, but again she refused. Seeing that his offer had been turned down, the rapist teacher pushed her to the ground and forcibly removed her clothes before raping her once.

On September 25, the court heard that the accused took advantage of the absence of other family members and dragged the juvenile into his bedroom.

He raped her once, but during the sexual abuse, the complainant’s younger sister arrived home and witnessed the act.

She reported the matter to her mother who then made a police report, leading to the arrest of the accused.

A medical report was produced in court showing that the juvenile had indeed been raped.