Tsholotsho man (48) rapes girl (16), tried to buy her silence with R20, packet of jiggies

A 48-YEAR-OLD man from Gulalikabili Line in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North province, has been arrested and hauled before the courts for allegedly sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl who is his neighbour, before trying to buy her silence with R20 and a packet of snacks (jiggies).

The accused person, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of the victim, was not asked to plead when he appeared before Tsholotsho resident magistrate Mr Maxwell Ncube.

He was remanded in custody until June 25, 2026, for a routine remand hearing.

The State’s case details a harrowing ordeal that began in February this year.

It is the State’s case that sometime in February 2026, at around 3pm, the accused met the complainant on her way home from school.

He allegedly handed her a R50 note and told her that he would visit her under the cover of darkness that night.

True to his word, at around 11pm, the accused sneaked into the complainant’s homestead. It is reported that the teenager was sleeping in the kitchen hut alongside her two minor siblings.

It is alleged that the accused stealthily entered the room, slid into the complainant’s blankets, and sexually abused her once without her consent.

The court further heard that the accused person struck again on March 27, 2026. It is reported that on the day in question and at around 11pm, he returned to the homestead, sneaked back into the kitchen hut, undressed the complainant, and sexually assaulted her for the second time.

To conceal his tracks, the accused strictly warned the traumatised victim against revealing the ordeal to anyone.

He then handed her a R20 note and a packet of jiggies as a bribe for her silence.

However, his luck ran out before he could exit the room.

One of the victim’s relatives unexpectedly arrived at the homestead and busted the accused red-handed inside the kitchen hut at that odd hour of the night.

The relative immediately alerted the complainant’s father about the suspicious night visitation.

The matter finally came to light when the girl’s father confronted her, demanding an explanation as to what their neighbour was doing inside her sleeping quarters in the dead of night.

Cornered, the minor broke down and revealed the serial abuse, leading to the father reporting the matter to the police, resulting in the accused’s arrest.