Man rapes 5 year old 'to get rid of HIV infection'

A BINGA man was yesterday sentenced to eight years in prison after he raped his five-year-old niece and infected her with STIs and HIV.

The 22-year-old man, whose identity is withheld to protect the minor, appeared before Hwange regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga and was convicted on his own plea of guilty to rape and infecting someone with actual intent.

Prosecutor Tawanda Sigauke told the court that on September 19 at around 3pm, the man was left in care of a five-year-old minor by a relative while she attended a funeral.

While the girl was playing outside, the man called the her to his bedroom hut to collect fish for lunch.

When she got into the hut, she found the man undressed and he immediately closed the door and removed her clothes before raping her.

The court was further told that as she was screaming, he closed her mouth and she sustained some bruises on the mouth.

After committing the offence, the man gave the girl a tomato to eat and told her not to tell her mother, threatening he was going to repeat the act if she did and she complied.

However, on the night of September 21, her mother came back and the minor kept crying but did not say why she was crying.

The following morning, as she was passing urine, her mother noticed that there was blood, rash surrounding her private parts and she could not walk properly.

Upon interrogation, the minor revealed that she had been raped by her uncle while the mother was away.

The minor was taken to the hospital and the medical report proved that she had been sexually abused and was infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STI) and HIV.

In mitigation, the man said he was trying to get rid of the infections as he had been told by a friend that sleeping with a minor could cure STIs.

"My friend advised me that if I have sex with a minor, the disease will go," he said.

"I have been on pills since I was 13 and recently I got pimples that were very itchy and burning on my privates after I had sex with my girlfriend. I thought if I sleep with my niece since she was young, I was going to be cured.

"I am apologising to my sister for what I put her child through, it will not happen again."

Malunga said she had considered his mitigation, but what she found undesirable was his cruelty to a young and innocent child whom he infected with dangerous diseases.

The man was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with two years suspended for eight years on condition he does not commit a similar offence.