Rapist sets dog on victim

A 16-year-old boy from Mberengwa district in the Midlands province allegedly set two dogs on his 10-year-old victim to stop her from escaping, before he raped her once, a Zvishavane court heard recently.

The teenager from a village under Chief Mataruse in Mberengwa, last week appeared before Zvishavane magistrate Mr Story Rushambwa facing a rape charge as defined in Section 65 (1) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and Mr Rushambwa remanded him in custody to tomorrow.

It is the State case, as presented by Mr Stanley Ncube, that sometime in August this year, the teenager found the minor gathering firewood from a nearby bush, while in the company of two boys aged 10 and seven.

The accused allegedly asked the two boys to leave but the boys refused.

He then resorted to setting his two dogs on the boys to chase them away so that he could remain behind with the girl.

The court heard that when the accused returned from chasing away the two boys, the girl, out of fear, started running away.

In a bid to stop the girl from escaping, the accused allegedly set his two dogs on her.

The teenager succeeded in catching up with his victim with the help of his two dogs, upon which he allegedly tripped her before raping her once and fleeing.

She went home and reported the matter to her aunt who proceeded to file a report with the police.

Police investigations led to the arrest of the accused person two days later.