Man gets 100 years behind bars for raping disabled step-daughter

A 54-year-old man from Guruve has been sentenced to 100 years in prison for raping and impregnating his hard of hearing and mute stepdaughter.

The abuse occurred between December 2013 and March 2014.

According to court records seen by Sunday Mail, the rapist - whose identity has been withheld to protect the victim - sneaked into the 24-year-old's bedroom on four separate occasions.

In the fifth encounter, he raped her as she watered a tobacco nursery.

He then pressured his wife to chase her away after discovering she was pregnant.

However, the victim, now eight months pregnant, communicated the abuse to her mother who immediately engaged police.

Although the man denied the charges, Bindura regional magistrate Mr William Bhila sentenced him to 20 years' imprisonment for each count.

Mr Gosi Mudemba prosecuted.

About 400 women have been raped in the first quarter of 2014.

Fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers and other close relatives constitute 62 percent of perpetrators, according to police statistics released by the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development.