Phone records HIV+ grandad raping his granddaughter

A 63-YEAR-OLD HIV positive man from Emakhandeni suburb in Bulawayo raped his 16-year-old granddaughter while a cellphone that was on the bed recorded the sickening attack. Witness Gowera allegedly turned monster on Wednesday, a day after he was introduced to the girl. He told a court on Thursday that he had consensual sex with his granddaughter.

The teen lives with her mother in South Africa and saw her paternal grandfather for the first time on Tuesday. She visited him at his Emakhandeni home from her aunt's home in Northend suburb. Investigators have a video in which Gowera appears to be showing the juvenile his erect penis and asking her for sex.

The girl begs him not to rape her and wait for her grandmother to relieve his sexual tension. "Please wait for my granny, she's coming," the girl is heard begging in Shona. "Please, leave me alone." Gowera, speaking in Ndebele and apparently pointing to his erect penis, tells the terrified teenager in reply: "I can't wait. Look at me!"

He went on to rape her, it is alleged. The girl's grandmother allegedly ordered her to delete the video but she refused. After a brief apperence at the Western Commonage Magistrates' Court, magistrate Themba Chimiso remanded Gowera in custody and advised him to apply to the High Court for bail.

The girl's cousin, in her warned and cautioned statement to the police, said the victim had shown her videos on the previous day in which the girl was turning down her grandfather's sexual advances. Gowera allegedly promised the juvenile money if she gave in.

Maria John, for the prosecution, said shortly after 8AM on September 28 last month, at a house in Emakhandeni suburb, Gowera ordered the victim to clean the fowl run. "When she proceeded to her bedroom, Gowera followed her. He undressed and asked her to have sex with him. She refused and he was furious and left the room," said John.

Gowera allegedly sent the girl's cousin to the city centre to buy some pills and remained alone with her. "On September 29, after taking a bath, Gowera got into the bedroom and found h is granddaughter half naked. He undressed himself, grabbed her by the hand and pushed her on the bed. He then forced her to have sex with him without protection," said John.

Unbeknown to Gowera, the girl's phone which was lying on the bed had its video recording application turned on — it was not explained why. The court heard that after the incident, the victim narrated the story to her father through a text message. The father and other relatives came to the house and called in the police.

Gowera pleaded with magistrate Chimiso to free him, saying he was on medication. "I've a hearing problem, a backache and I'm taking pills. I slept with her with her consent," said Gowera.