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From Noah Pito in Hurungwe
Three Hurungwe men last week appeared separately at the Karoi Magistrate Court facing charges of raping 13-year-old girls. Two of the suspects aged 30 and 28 appeared before Magistrate Mr Sam Chitumwa, while the third suspect (43) appeared before Mr Takunda Nyamandi.

Two of them were remanded in custody to Thursday next week and were advised to apply for bail at the High Court, while the third suspect was remanded to Wednesday next week on $50 bail. The first suspect allegedly raped his 13-year-old stepdaughter, while the girl’s mother had travelled to Murehwa to attend a funeral. The State alleged that on September 23, the accused frightened the girl and her four younger siblings by claiming that it was not safe for them to sleep alone in their bedroom since it was haunted by ghosts.

After making the frightening claims, the suspect, it is alleged, proceeded to sleep in the minors’ bedroom on the floor with the minors sleeping on the bed. The court heard that he allegedly lifted his daughter from the bed in the middle of the night and lay her on the floor and raped her. Although the girl did not cry for help that night, she reported the abuse to neighbours the following morning.

The neighbours later took the matter to the village head who called the police. The second suspect allegedly raped his 13-year-old cousin in her bedroom on several occasions during the night, each time gagging her mouth with his hands. The accused, it is also alleged, each time he abused the minor, threatened her with death if she revealed the abuse to anyone. The case only came to light after the girl revealed the abuse to her aunt who took the matter to Magunje police.

The third suspect’s rape charges emanated sometime between January and August this year when he allegedly raped the minor in a grazing area where she was herding cattle. After forcing himself on the minor, the suspect threatened to kill her if she disclosed the abuse to anyone. The matter came to light on August 28 when the girl — who does not attend school — had visited a relative. After the relative noticed that the girl suffered from influenza and ejected some blood stained phlegm each time she coughed, she asked for an explanation. The girl recounted her alleged abuse.