adminFaith Mabuto Midlands Reporter
A 17-year-old Mberengwa boy allegedly raped his 5-year-old niece and promised to marry her as a way of buying her silence, a magistrate has heard.
The teenager who resides in Village Kivi under Chief Mtevaidze in Mberengwa, appeared before Regional Magistrate Morgan Nemadire facing a charge of rape.
He denied the charge and was remanded in custody to June 2 for continuation of trial.
The boy told the court that he did not rape his niece nor did he take off her pants
He said he never went to the complaint’s hut.
“Your worship when the complainant’s mother found me I was repairing my door and I never got into the complainant’s blankets. These people are lying,” said the boy.
Nemadire asked the boy if what he said was making sense but the suspect remained quiet.
“What you are saying does not make any sense. Why would the complainant’s mother accuse you of raping her daughter if she found you repairing your door. Why would she claim to have found you in the girl’s blankets if you were not there?” asked Nemadire.
The court heard that the boy and the complainant’s father are half-brothers.
The complainant’s father told the court that the boy was found by his wife with his pants down to knee-level.
He said the boy was sleeping next to the five-year-old girl. “My wife found him in bed with my daughter and he had undressed her. My daughter told us that the accused had put a pen in her and she then pointed to her genitalia”, said the girl’s father.
The complainant’s father also told the court that he tried talking to the boy but he ran away. He said the boy later started accusing the complainant’s mother of being a liar.
Prosecuting, Ndamukanei Chikuni told the court that on February 6, 2012, at around 5.30PM, the boy called the complainant together with other two kids and told them to sweep his room.
“He went inside his room and held the complainant’s left hand as he told her that he wanted to marry her. The boy then lifted up the complaint and laid her on top of his bed. He also ordered the other two to sleep on the same bed,” said Chikuni.
She said the boy took off his pants and wrapped the complaint with a blanket and raped her once.
Chikuni told the court that the complainant’s mother then came to check on the kids and that is when she found the boy in the complainant’s blankets.
She said the mother of the girl screamed thereby alerting her husband who was outside.
The matter was reported to the police by the complainant’s mother leading to the arrest of the boy.
Online Reporter