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Rapist relative sentenced to 18 years behind bars

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A 45-YEAR-OLD Harare man who raped his adolescent relative before threatening her with arrest will rue the day he decided to carry out the heinous act.

A 45-YEAR-OLD Harare man who raped his adolescent relative before threatening her with arrest will rue the day he decided to carry out the heinous act after he was sent to jail for 15 years by a Harare regional magistrate.

PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI

Self–employed Tongai Muzvuwe of Makomo area in the sprawling settlement of Epworth, was convicted of rape as defined under Section 65 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 despite his plea of innocence.

Regional magistrate Hosea Mujaya, however, convicted him on the basis of overwhelming evidence and lambasted him for failing to respect the rights of women and girls.

“Women and girls have rights. Men should be reminded that they need to negotiate for sex. But in your case, this does not come in as the girl is only a minor,” Mujaya said.

Muzvuwe was initially slapped with an 18-year jail term, but the court suspended three years for five, leaving a balance of 15 years to be served.

The court heard during trial that on June 14 this year at around 8 o’clock in the morning, the 11-year-old complainant from Komboniyatsva area of Epworth left her place of residence and headed for the accused person’s house so that they could go to the city centre together.

Upon arrival at Muzvuwe’s house, the juvenile had tea together with the accused person, according to the State outline. After a few minutes the accused grabbed her and forced her onto the bed, peeled off her clothes and then raped her.

The accused then ordered the complainant to remain tight-lipped over the matter, failure of which he threatened that he would get her arrested.

The complainant, however, later disclosed what had happened, leading to the arrest of the accused person.