Rapist stepdad jailed

Munyaradzi Musiiwa Midlands Correspondent
A 28-YEAR-OLD stepfather has been slapped with a 20-year jail sentence after he was found guilty of raping his four-year-old stepdaughter. The man from Mawarire Village under Chief Njelele in Gokwe had pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Gokwe-Kwekwe regional magistrate Mr Amos Mbobo facing rape charges.

He was convicted after a full trial and sentenced to an effective 20 years in prison.
The State’s case was that on 25 May this year, the man raped his stepdaughter after taking advantage of her mother’s absence.

On the said date, the girl’s mother left the toddler in the custody of her husband while she attended a church service in the same village.
The man seized the opportunity and raped the girl once after dragging her to his bedroom.
He went on to threaten the girl with death if she reported the matter to anyone.

The matter, however, came to surface when the girl’s mother noticed some semen on the girl’s private parts, raising suspicion of possible sexual abuse.
The court heard that the mother inquired and the child divulged that she had been sexually abused by her stepfather.
She reported the matter to the police leading to the man’s arrest.

Mr Robert Ndlala appeared for the State.
In a related incident, a 74-year-old man from Mberengwa was last week arrested for allegedly raping a 72-year-old woman as a way of fixing her following a land dispute.

The man, Hwereni Chandavengerwa of Matoka village under Chief Matyebadza in Mberengwa was arraigned before Mberengwa magistrate Mr Christopher Maturure facing rape charges.
He pleaded not guilty and was remanded out of custody to 16 January next year.

For the State, Ms Wadzanai Shayanowako alleged that on 22 November this year, Chandavengerwa unlawfully entered the complainant’s bedroom hut while she was sleeping and forcibly had sex with her after gagging the woman and holding her neck tightly.

Ms Shayanowako alleged that Chandavengerwa raped the complainant two more times during the same night before he left.
The matter was reported to the police leading to his arrest.

During cross examination Chandavengerwa alleged that he had a longstanding dispute with the woman’s relatives and they had framed him so that they would take part of his land which the two families have been fighting for.