Man rapes his orphaned niece, infects her with HIV

A MAN from Robert Sinyoka on the outskirts of Old Pumula in Bulawayo allegedly raped his 16-year-old orphaned niece once and infected her with HIV after threatening her with violence if she resisted or told anyone.

This was heard by Bulawayo Regional Court magistrate Mark Dzira when the 29-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, appeared at the Victim Friendly Court.

The man denied the rape.

The State, led by Tinashe Dzipe, yesterday called the girl to testify and she told the court that her uncle had raped her in November 2010 after threatening her.

She said she was an orphan and went to live with her maternal grandmother at Robert Sinyoka when her parents died.

When asked why she took such a long time to report the case, the girl said her grandmother subjected her to physical abuse making it difficult to inform her about the rape.

"She in most cases would beat me up because she wanted me to do the dishes and I lost my two teeth as a result of her assault, so I feared that if I told her she would beat me up also," the girl said.

She only revealed the rape after moving from Robert Sinyoka to stay in Nkulumane when she fell sick and developed boils all over her body.

"I fell ill and that is when I was taken to hospital where I was discovered to be HIV-positive," she said.

The uncle vehemently denied infecting her with HIV, but the girl insisted: "But uncle you infected me with HIV and you know that."

It was the State's case that sometime in November 2010, the girl's grandmother left home for church leaving her in the custody of the uncle.

The girl, who was 12 then, prepared food and served her uncle in his bedroom. After about an hour, he allegedly called her to collect the plates, but when she entered the room, he immediately locked the door and threw her on his bed and raped her once.

She was asked at the hospital if she had slept with anyone after testing HIV-positive and she revealed the alleged rape.

A report was made to the police and the uncle was arrested.

The case was remanded to July 1 when the State is expected to call more witnesses.