The Sunday News
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
A 31-YEAR-OLD Filabusi man has been jailed 15 years for raping and impregnating his 14-year-old maternal niece.
The man who cannot be named for ethical reasons, first proposed love to the juvenile and told her he wanted to make her his second wife, but she refused.
He pleaded not guilty to rape when he appeared before Gwanda regional magistrate, Mr Mark Dzira last week but was convicted due to overwhelming evidence. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment of which three years were suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
Prosecuting, Mr Pernson Chekeya said the man raped his niece who was staying with him, last year in September while she was a Form Two pupil at Mpumelelo Secondary School.
“On 28 September at around 8pm, the man found his niece lying in bed in her bedroom and he proposed love to her saying he wanted to make her his second wife. The juvenile turned down him down and ordered him to leave but instead her uncle joined her in the blankets and started fondling her breasts.
“He threatened to assault her if she screamed and he went on to rape her. After committing the offence the man threatened to assault and chase away his niece from his homestead if she reported what he had done to her,” he said.
Mr Chekeya said the juvenile remained mum about the matter until she told her aunt a month later. He said the matter was reported to the police leading to the man’s arrest. Mr Chekeya said the juvenile was taken to Filabusi District Hospital for examination and the results showed that she was pregnant.
In his defence the man denied raping the juvenile saying his relatives had fabricated the allegations as pay back for refusing to stay with her.
Meanwhile, a 43-year-old man from Kezi has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for raping his 13-year-old step daughter several times while she had been left in his custody by her mother.
The man from Sun Yet Sen area who cannot be named for ethical reasons was convicted on his own plea of guilty to rape by Mr Dzira.
He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment of which three years were suspended on condition he does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
In passing sentence Mr Dzira rebuked the man for harming the juvenile who saw him as a father figure.
@DubeMatutu
