A 20-year-old man from Mutare was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping his 12-year-old sister.
The accused, who has not been named, recently appeared before the Mutare Magistrates’ Court facing rape charges.
The State proved that sometime during the period beginning from January 2023 to April 2024, the accused person raped his sister whenever she was left in the care of her grandmother, sister, or himself.
In the first incident, he took the minor to his bedroom and forcibly removed her skirt and underwear before raping her once. He threatened to assault her if she revealed the matter to anyone.
This happened while the grandmother and the sister were in another bedroom in the house.
Thereafter the accused person raped his sister on different occasions whenever their mother was not at home.
On 12 April 2024, the girl did not go to school and informed her mother that she was sick and her privates were itching.
Her mother noticed that her privates were swollen and had a watery discharge.
The offence only came to light on 14 April 2024 when the accused person went to the Police station seeking a police report to have the complainant medically examined. He produced a photo of the complainant’s privates which was on his cellphone.
Investigations by the Police showed that the photo was part of a chain of messages exchanged between the accused person and the complainant revealing that he had raped her on different occasions.
