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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A VICTORIA Falls teacher who was being accused of raping his teenage sister-in-law heaved a sigh of relief after a court established that the girl had framed him for stopping her from cohabiting with a boyfriend.
The girl is aged 17 and is a younger sister to the accused’s wife.
The juvenile allegedly eloped to cohabit with a boyfriend in August last year and raised rape charges against her sister’s husband after he forced her out of the “marriage.” The accused (57) cannot be named for ethical reasons.
He pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape after the complainant alleged that he sexually abused her on three occasions when his wife had travelled last year in August and September.
Hwange regional magistrate Mr Collet Ncube found the teacher not guilty and acquitted him.
The magistrate said the girl was not a credible witness.
“The complainant is not a credible witness and the court wonders why she took long to report the case to the police yet she had many people in her family to confide in,” said Mr Ncube.
He said the allegations were inspired by bad blood between the girl and the accused as she was angry that he stopped her marriage to a boyfriend who she had eloped to cohabit with.
The complainant’s sister and paternal grandmother who testified in court accused the girl of lying against the accused.
They said the allegations were fabricated as she had not told anyone about the rape.
The girl did not report to the police who arrested the accused using an anonymous letter that they found in a suggestion box, the court was told.
Allegations by the State led by Mr Tinomupei Mbiza were that the accused raped his wife’s younger sister on three different occasions at his house between August and September last year.
Mr Givemore Mvhiringi of Mvhiringi and Partners represented the accused.
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