BINDURA — A Bindura man was last week slapped with an effective 50-year jail term after he was convicted on five counts of raping his 16-year-old niece.
HAZVINEI MWANAKA
The accused (51), a District Development Fund (DDF) employee was initially sentenced to 60 years behind bars, but Bindura regional magistrate William Bhila suspended the other 10 years on condition of good behaviour.
The man was charged with rape as defined in Section 65(1) (a) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
On the first count, prosecutor Gosi Mudambu told the court that sometime in February last year at around 10am the accused summoned the complainant into his bedroom after she had taken a bath and ordered her to sit down.
He later told the complainant that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with her.
He threatened to expel her from his Glendale house if she refused.
The court heard that Kanyuchi then clamped the complainant’s mouth and laid her on the ground before raping her once.
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On the second count, the court heard that during the same month, the complainant was ironing clothes in her bedroom when the accused entered. The accused pushed the complainant to the ground and had sexual intercourse with her once.
He later gave the complainant $1 to repair her skirt which had been torn. On the third count, the court also heard that sometime in June 2013, the complainant, coming from school went home and found the accused there.
He then followed the complainant to her bedroom where she was dressing and had sexual intercourse with her.
On the fourth count, the court heard that he dragged the complainant into his bedroom after which he tripped her to the ground and had sexual intercourse with her.
On the last count the court heard that in February 2014, the accused raped the complainant in her bedroom while his wife was away in Bindura for driving lessons.
He later bought two mobile phones in an attempt to silence the complainant.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges saying during weekdays he is always at work and during the weekends there would be usually seven people at the house and there was no way he could have raped her.
