Online Reporter
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu
A GWANDA man will spend the next 15 years behind bars after he stormed into his aunt’s bedroom in the dead of night and raped her at knifepoint.
The 29-year-old man from Nyambi Village, whose name cannot be disclosed to protect the victim’s identity, denied the charge but was nailed after a full trial before Gwanda regional magistrate Sithembiso Ndebele.
Delivering sentence, Ndebele blasted the man’s actions as “an act of gross disrespect” and said the court had no doubt about his guilt.
“You went to the complainant’s homestead in the middle of the night and stormed her bedroom. This shows clear intent to harm and degrade. What makes it worse is that the complainant is your aunt,” she said.
Prosecutor Zanele Sithole told the court that the vile act happened on 20 January around midnight. The accused broke into his aunt’s house using an iron bar, threatening to kill her and her family if she resisted his advances.
“Upon arrival at the complainant’s home, the accused person forcibly opened the door with an iron bar and demanded to sleep with his aunt amid threats to kill her and her family if she did not comply,” Sithole said.
Terrified and powerless, the 48-year-old woman endured the assault before the attacker fled into the darkness.
The distraught aunt rushed to a neighbour’s house for help, and together they reported the matter to police, leading to the man’s swift arrest.
In court, the accused tried to wriggle out of trouble by claiming he was drunk and could not remember what happened. But the court dismissed the excuse after the victim testified that he was sober and fully aware of his actions.
Justice caught up with him — and Ndebele made it clear that such vile crimes have no place in society.
“The court has a duty to protect women from such barbaric acts,” she said, before handing down the 15-year jail term.
