In a bizarre case of sexual abuse, a 34-year-old Bindura woman was recently slapped with a 12-year jail term after being convicted of raping her 15-year-old stepson.
BY CHARLES LAITON
The woman was charged with aggravated indecent assault, after forcing herself on the juvenile, while her husband was away. The court heard the incident occurred on September 16 this year, when the woman intruded into the boy’s room, while the latter was changing his clothes.
The court heard, when she budged into her stepson’s bedroom she was carrying a condom, which she later used after overpowering the teenager.
Bindura regional magistrate, William Bhila halved the woman’s jail term, suspending six years from the sentence after indicating the case was rare and there was no likelihood the convict would repeat such a heinous act.
“This is an unusual case. We are used to hearing about men who rape female minors. Normally a dog bites a man and not a man biting a dog. The fact that now, a man is biting a dog, it’s news. Now the fact that the accused is a female, a stepmother for that matter, who forced her son to have sexual intercourse, it’s news now,” he said.
“This is an unusual case and I do not think it is necessary to send the accused to prison for a very long time, it is unusual and it is not that prevalent. But this does not detract from the fact that the accused (the woman) must go to prison. Maybe there are some like-minded women as the accused, they must desist from it.
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“The accused is sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment of which six years is suspended for five years on condition that she does not, during this period, commit any offence of any sexual nature for which she is sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine.”
In his reasons for sentence, Bhila said he had observed and noted that the woman was of a “delinquent character”.
“Even the accused’s husband, who is the complainant’s father, seems to fear the accused person. If the complainant’s father so feared his wife, what more of this little boy?” the magistrate remarked. “In my view, the complainant told us the truth. This is a 15-year-old juvenile, who is alleging that his stepmother was engaging in this heinous act against him. He gave evidence very well. It is quite clear that he was afraid. It is quite clear to me that the accused is a bullying character.
“The affidavit states there were healed bruises around his organ because the accused was aggressive.”
The matter only came to light when the juvenile’s father discovered a used condom in his son’s room and when he quizzed him, he spilled the beans leading to the woman’s arrest. The woman has since filed an appeal against both conviction and sentence.
