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Codelia Mondela, Court Reporter
A MAN from Fort Rixon has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his 11-year-old niece while she slept.
A court heard that the minor woke up and saw her uncle (22) on top of her. She asked what he was doing but he dressed up and left the room.
The man pleaded not guilty to rape before Bulawayo regional magistrate Mrs Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze.
The magistrate sentenced him to 10 years in prison and suspended three years on condition that he does not repeat a similar offence in the next five years.
He will serve an effective seven years behind bars.
The minor said she kept the matter a secret because she was afraid of telling her grandmother as she was abusive and only revealed the rape to her mother early this year.
“I woke up from sleep after I felt something on my privates. I lit a torch and saw that it was my uncle and I asked him what he was doing. However, he kicked the torch and destroyed it,” she said.
“The following morning I did not tell grandmother since I was afraid that she would beat me. She was in the habit of abusing us as she said she did not want children in her homestead.”
For the State, Mr Robin Mukura said the man went into his niece’s bedroom hut and sneaked into the blankets. He raped the child once and she woke up in the process.
“She told her mother about the rape on January 5 this year and the matter was reported at Hillside Police Station,” Mr Mukura said.
@MondelaC
Online Reporter