Published by the government of Zimbabwe
30 June 2009
Harare — A SEKE man has been jailed 17 years for raping his 10-year-old niece.
chitungwiza regional magistrate Mr Temba Kuwanda slapped the 27-year-old man from Gaura Village with the lengthy prison term after he convicted him.
Reading reasons for sentence, Mr Kuwanda said rape cases involving men who took advantage of their minor relatives were on the increase and custodial sentences were the most appropriate way to curb the serious offence.
Mr Kuwanda said the man's moral blameworthiness was very high since he raped a girl who looked up to him as a guardian.
The man, who denied the charges when the trial opened early this year, was found guilty after a full trial.
Prosecutor Mr Mugaviri Mugaviri established that on November 9 last year, the girl who stayed with her grandmother in the village, was left at the house as the grandmother went to gather wild fruits at a nearby bushy area.
The man, who stayed closer to the girl's home, took advantage of the grandmother's absence and took the girl to an abandoned hut in the village where he raped her once.
The matter came to light when the grandmother discovered that the girl had been sexually abused after noticing a change in her behaviour.
A report was made to police leading to the arrest of the man. A medical affidavit confirming the abuse was compiled by a doctor at Chitungwiza Hospital which was later used as an exhibit in the trial.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Rapes happen all over the world and anything like this hardly gets a mention in the press in the west because it is virtually seen as the norm. Rapes are wrong full stop. But to do this to your own niece well what do i say. In britain someone would go to prison for 3 years and would be out in 1.At least in Zim this monster goes for 17, although i think it should be more. I personally think it should be life with castration. people would think twice before doing this sort of evil deed.
Yea ... castrate the beast but set him free and make him wear a deep bright yellow/orange overall or shirt. Every Saturday noon he should carry a placate with a picture of a castrated mombe. Be serious! How can you reduce everything to your common denominator of blaming these dastrd crimes our political leaders? Silly ... to use litotes. Surely you would not blame all the rapes and murders that occur in England on Gordon Brown or Her Majesty, the Queen. Of course not! Clearly you do not take things African serious ...
It seems akapfunde would rather these rapists be knighted instead of being castrated. String a few of them by the balls.
Hitler ( mugabe) has only got one ball
The other is nailed on the wall
His mother the dirty bugger
Cut it off when he was small.
Why are there so many rapists (proportionally) in Zimbabwe! Is it a cultural thing? Why do these Zimbabweans not respect woman like they should? It comes from the top!