Student accused of raping cousin

AN 18-year-old Form 4 student in Bulawayo on Monday appeared in court for allegedly raping his eight-year-old cousin on several occasions.

The student pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Sheunesu Matova and was remanded out of custody to August 18.

Prosecutor Kingston Mukanganwi told the court that the student and girl stay in the same house in Nketa 6.

Mukanganwi said on July 28 at around 1:30pm, the girl was watching television when he called her to the spare bedroom and ordered her to lie on top of him.

The girl refused, but he removed her skirt and panties, lifted and placed her on top of him and allegedly sexually assaulted her.

Their grandmother allegedly found the juvenile sleeping facing upwards with the boy's hand in-between her legs.

The grandmother asked the girl what was going on and she indicated that she had been raped. Mukanganwi said the boy allegedly raped the juvenile on several occasions up to July 31.

He said there was a medical report to prove that the girl was sexually assaulted.