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Andrew Muvishi Mash East Correspondent
A 21-year-old man from Plot 14, Theydon Farm in Marondera has appeared before the Marondera Magistrates court facing allegations of having raped a mentally challenged teenager before impregnating her sometime in December 2019.
Appearing before Marondera Magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa, the accused denied the charges stating that the accusations were allegedly cooked up by the complainant’s stepfather whom he accused of being responsible for the alleged rape and pregnancy.
He further alleged that the stepfather raped the girl after convincing her that he was teaching her how to ride a motorcycle. The stepfather, however, vehemently denied the accused’s claims.
The State’s case led by Memory Katsande is that on a date unknown to the prosecutor, but sometime in December 2019 at 5pm, the complainant’s mother sent her to buy bread at a nearby tuckshop and on her way back the accused suddenly emerged from behind the complainant.
The accused then allegedly held the complainant’s hands before pushing her down beside the road in the grass and raped her. The accused then threatened to kill the complainant if she divulged the matter to anyone.
However, things came to a head in March last year when the complainant’s mother observed some subtle changes in her daughter’s behaviour and body that suggested she was pregnant.
All her efforts to prob her daughter were futile as she was not cooperating. This prompted the girl’s mother to summon her uncle who successfully probed her before she spilled the beans. The complainant’s uncle then reported the matter to the police who arrested the accused at his place of residence.
The court also heard that this was the second time the accused had appeared before the courts facing the same charges as he had once appeared before the courts sometime in 2014 facing similar charges of rape and was convicted but later released.
Online Reporter