BINDURA — A 32-year-old Domboshava man has been slapped with an effective 70-year jail term after he was convicted of four counts of raping his 13-year-old niece and infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease.
HAZVINEI MWANAKA OWN CORRESPONDENT
Trust Nyikadzino was initially sentenced to 80 years behind bars, but Bindura regional magistrate William Bhila suspended the other 10 years on condition of good behaviour.
The accused was charged with rape as defined in Section 65 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9: 23.
On the first count, prosecutor Gosi Madambu told the court that sometime in 2011 the complainant, who at that time was staying at Nyikadzino’s house, was sent to the garden in the company of two other girls.
The accused then followed the complainant who at that time was driving away some cattle.
Nyikadzino later took the complainant into a nearby bush near the garden and after stuffing tree leaves into her mouth raped her once and threatened to assault her if she revealed the matter to anyone.
On the second count, the court heard that during the same year and at night Nyikadzino went to the kitchen where the complainant was sleeping with her aged and blind grandmother and raped her threatening to assault her if she cried.
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Madambu told the court that on the third count the accused raped the girl while she was asleep in the dining room during another night.
On the fourth count, the court heard that the accused raped the complainant at her home during the day.
The court was told that the matter was discovered in May this year when the girl’s class teacher smelled an odour from the complainant and took her for a bath where she discovered that the complainant had developed some genital warts.
The case was reported to the police and a medical examination was done.
The accused had pleaded not guilty. But the court found him guilty due to overwhelming evidence.
