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Limpret Moyo, Sunday News Reporter
A 38-YEAR-OLD Tsholotsho man allegedly raped his 15-year-old daughter several times on different occasions and threatened to assault her if she revealed what had happened.
The man of Maqethuka Line appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Chrispen Mberewere on Thursday facing three counts of rape. He denied the charges and Mr Mberewere remanded him in custody to Wednesday for the continuation of the trial.
For the State, prosecutor Mr Busani Moyo told the court that sometime in September last year, the juvenile’s grandmother went to Moyeni Line to attend a funeral and left the child with the father at home. At night, the father allegedly got into the daughter’s bedroom where she was sleeping and raped her.
The court further heard that in November the same year, the girl’s grandmother went to Mpilo Central Hospital to visit her sick aunt. During that night, the father called his daughter to his bedroom and raped her again. After raping her, the father threatened to assault her if ever she told anyone of what had happened. In January this year, again the grandmother was not there and the father raped his daughter. He gave her a handset to buy her silence.
The matter came to light when the juvenile wrote a letter intending to put it into the suggestion box for the police. She, however, forgot the letter in the kitchen where the grandmother stumbled upon it and questioned the girl. The girl did not reveal that it was her father who had been raping her and lied that the man was someone who once proposed love to her.
The court heard that a member of the crime consultative committee at ZRP Tsholotsho, Mr Tshibilika Mathema got the information about the abuse.
He went to the juvenile’s place of residence and interviewed her about it.
The juvenile revealed to him that it was his father who had raped her leading to a police report and subsequent arrest of the father. The juvenile was referred to Tsholotsho District Hospital for medical examination.
Online Reporter