Man rapes Grade 6 daughter

A 44-year-old Harare man who raped his 12-year-old daughter while her hands were tied together at the back and her mouth gagged with a piece of cloth, was yesterday sentenced to an effective 14 years in jail.

The man and the complainant's mother are divorced and he had been living with his daughter since she was a toddler.

Magistrate Mr Themba Kuwanda convicted him after a full trial.

Mr Kuwanda sentenced him to 18 years behind bars and set aside four years on condition of good behaviour leaving him with 14 years to serve in prison.

During trial, the court heard that the man connived with a neighbour to obtain a birth certificate for the victim after he divorced the mother.

The neighbour posed as the victim's biological mother.

This came to light after the man denied the rape charges saying her daughter was fabricating the charges after he had reprimanded her for having a love affair with their neighbour's son identified.

He said the neighbour had influenced her to make false allegations.

The neighbour, however, told prosecutor Mrs Vallery Ngoma that she had nothing to do with the police report and also dismissed the man's claims that his son was having an affair with the victim.

She then revealed that there was no bad blood between her family and the man's family, hence there was no way she could have caused his arrest.

To substantiate her claims that they were in good books with the man's family, the woman revealed how she had helped the man obtain a birth certificate for the victim.

The court then requested that the birth certificate be brought to court and the man confirmed that the woman indeed posed as the victim's mother for the purpose of registration.

The State proved that on February 2 at around 9pm, the complainant went to her bedroom to sleep.

She heard some movements in her blankets and when she woke up she was shocked to see her father stripping her.

The victim tried to scream but she failed since her mouth was stuffed with a piece of cloth.

She also failed to move away from him as her father had tied her hands together.

The man then raped his daughter and went to his bedroom without untying her, the court heard.

The man went back to the victim's bedroom and untied her before ordering her not to report the matter to anyone.

The Grade Six pupil went to school at around 7am and wrote a letter chronicling how her father had sexually abused her.

She handed the letter to her class teacher who in turn alerted the school authorities.

A report was then made at Chinamhora Police Station.

Meanwhile, the trial date for the founder of By the Grace Ministries, Onbert Mapfumo, who was arrested for rape after a Tilda Moyo show on Star FM exposed him, has been set for May 9, writes Sheillah Mapani

Mapfumo (39) appeared before Harare magistrate Ms Barbara Chimboza on Wednesday, who set his trial date after the State indicated that investigations were complete.

He is accused of raping three female congregants at his prayer room in New Canaan, Highfield, Harare.

Prosecutor Ms Audrey Chogumaira alleged that on various occasions, Mapfumo summoned the three female congregants to the prayer room and took the complainants one by one into the room and prayed for them after assuring them he would deliver them from evil spirits.

He added that the intimacy would enable him to break the chains of poverty binding them.

The sex was non-consensual , the court heard.

 It is alleged that Mapfumo would strip the women and sprayed them with cooking oil, before having sex with them without their consent.