Man jailed for raping step-daughter
By Dumisani Ndlovu
A 28-year-old Chirumhanzu man Mathias Muzvondiwa who raped his 10-year-old step-daughter several times on different occasions has been slapped with an effective 17-year prison term.
Sentencing the accused, Gweru regional magistrate Christopher Maturure gave him an effective length jail term, saying the accused betrayed the trust bestowed on him as a father to sexually abuse a minor supposed to be his daughter.
He was charged with rape as defined in section 65 of the Criminal law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9.23.
The court heard that on the unknown date to the Prosecutor, Linah Mamombe but during the period extending from the year 2021 to December 2023 at Muzvondiwa village under chief Chirumhanzu, the accused Muzvondiwa unlawfully and intentionally had sexual intercourse with a minor knowing that at law she is incapable of consenting.
In her submission, Prosecutor Mamombe submitted that the crime was committed in aggravating circumstances.
“In aggravation the state submit that the accused person is a man aged 28 years whereas the complainant is a minor aged 10 years. The offender was the victim’s step father and a person whom she addressed and had entrusted as a father. What the offender did scared the victim for life and has destroyed her psychological wellbeing as the offender was regarded as a parent,” she said.
In 2021, the accused person threatened complainant to be assaulted by her mother if she tell her mother about the sexual abuse.
The complainant however told her mother that she was sexually abused by the accused but the mother did not take the matter serious.
On an unknown date in 2022, the complainant’s mother had a misunderstanding with the accused and she went to her rural home with her 5-year-old daughter and the complainant in Chivhu.
In November 2023 the accused and complainant’s mother reconciled and she returned at the accused’s resident with her children.
The court heard that on the 12th of December 2023, at 2000hrs, the complainant, her siblings and her mother where at home and they went to sleep in the same bedroom while the accused was at the shops drinking beer.
At around 0200 hours the accused came home and asked the complainant’s mother to cook meat for him since he had refused to eat vegetables which were already cooked. The accused person awake the complainant to accompany to the kitchen belonging to a relative which was about 800 meters from their home since it was raining. After a while the accused told the complainant’s mother that he wanted to escort the complainant home to sleep.
The two went together leaving the complainant alone. When they entered into the kitchen bedroom hut, anything. the accused asked the complainant whether she once enjoyed sex, but the complainant did not say anything. The accused is reportedly asked the complainant to get on the bed and remove her skin tight and pent but she refused.
The accused grabbed and dragged the complainant on the bed, removed the clothes, locked the door and raped her once.
The matter came to light after the complainant’s mother finished cooking and returned home, she found the door locked.
Upon arrival she found the door locked, she knocked the door calling the complainant’s name but the complainant and the accused took so long before opening the door for her.
The incident did not go down well with the complainant’s mother. When the door was opened, she found the complainant’s skin tight and pant near the door. She lifted the complainant skirt and saw that she was not wearing anything.
The mother asked her daughter why she removed the skin tight and the pant but she lied to her that she was urinating.
At around 800hrs when the accused had gone to the shops, the complainant’s mother interrogated the child and she opened up that the accused had actually forcefully removed her skin tight and pant and had sexual intercourse with her once on the bed without her consent.
The mother ten escorted her daughter to the police who attended the scene and the accused was arrested.
A medical report was produced in the court as exhibit.
