'My wife denies me sex,' says rapist

A Gweru man admitted to raping his 10-year-old stepchild claiming he committed the offence after his wife denied him conjugal rights.

The 36-year-old from Mkoba 12, Gweru, made the revelations before Gweru regional magistrate Morgan Nemadire.

The State's case presented by prosecutor Terrence Mufarinya was that sometime in June this year, the accused went to the juvenile's place of residence and found her grandmother.

He then asked her if they still had some firewood left and she said they had none. He then told the juvenile to accompany him to his place of residence to get firewood.

When they arrived at his house, the juvenile was told to enter the bedroom and wait there. He then followed her and lifted her up and took off her clothes as well as his, laid heron his bed without her consent and allegedly had sex with her.

After that he told her to go home and advised her not to say a word about what had transpired and did not give her the firewood since he did not even have it in the first place.

The court further heard that at around 8 pm the same day, the juvenile told her grandmother about what had happened.

She immediately went to file a report with the police leading to his arrest. The girl was taken to the hospital for medical examination which proved that she had engaged in a sexual activity.

In his defence, the accused said: "My wife has been denying me conjugal rights for four weeks your worship. I was sex starved and overwhelmed with desire and that's why I turned to my stepchild. I am deeply apologetic for the incident"