The Sunday News
Amanda Ncube, Sunday News Reporter
A 20-YEAR-OLD man from Emganwini in Bulawayo who was arrested for allegedly raping his then five-year-old step-sister six years ago was acquitted after he proved that his stepmother was using him to fix his father after they divorced.
The man pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Mr Chrispen Mberewere last week facing a rape charge. Mr Mberewere acquitted the man and said there was no evidence which proved that he raped his stepsister .
He said the law says sexual crimes must be reported early when the evidence has not disappeared. The court heard that the man was 14 years old when he allegedly raped his stepsister who by that time was five years old. However, the parents allegedly covered up the crime.
Prosecutor, Mr Simbarashe Manyiwa said sometime in May 2011, the man called complainant to the spare bedroom. It was the State’s case that he pushed the girl onto the bed and had sexual intercourse with her without her permission. The matter came to light when the girl’s aunt was bathing her and she told her not to touch her private parts because it was painful.
The court heard that, when the aunt asked her what had happened she narrated that she had been raped by the brother.
According to the prosecutor, the aunt told the girl’s mother who told the father but the matter was not reported to the police until January last year. On 23 January 2016, the girl’s mother filed a report at Tshabalala Police Station.
In his defence, the man told the court that his father and the girl’s mother were married until last year when they divorced.
“The complainant’s mother is trying to fix my father by saying I raped my step-sister because they are divorced with my father but that is not true. I did not rape her,” he said.
