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Court Reporter
A nine-year-old girl from Chitungwiza nailed her friend’s 56-year-old rapist after she reported the matter to policemen patrolling in their vicinity.
This was after her friend (9) gave her a detailed account of how she was sexually abused by her mother’s landlord and given a packet of roasted maize (maputi).
Testifying in court, the minor’s friend narrated how she was informed and later on accompanied her to policemen patrolling in their neighbourhood leading to the man’s arrest.
The incident occurred on January 31 this year when the girl’s mother left the minor with her younger sister as she went to work.
The man denied rape charges before Chitungwiza regional magistrate Ms Estere Chivasa, but was convicted after prosecutor Mr Lovet Muringwa proved a strong case against him.
He was jailed for 18 years with three years suspended for five years and 15 years shall be effective.
In his defense, he said the charges were malicious after giving the minor’s mother a notice and he never abused the girl since he was experiencing erectile problems.
The claim was dismmised by Ms Chivasa on the basis that the girl reported the matter without her mother’s knowledge.
“The fact that she reported the matter without her mother’s knowledge totally crushed the accused’s defense,” said Ms Chivasa.
Ms Chivasa applauded the manner with which the minor handled the matter.
“What the girl did was very clever because after noting the relationship between her mother and the accused she knew that if she told her the matter would not have been reported,” said Ms Chivasa.
This was after he told the court that he used to borrow some pornographic materials from the minor’s mother an indication that they had a mutual relationship.
In cross examination, the man asked the minor why she never raised alarm during the abuse and the minor said: “You were too heavy on top of me and when I cried no one heard my screams.”
The court heard that on the day the man lifted the minor from her mother’s lodgings to his bedroom where he sexually abused her.
In an attempt to conceal the offence, he gave the roasted maize.
The minor told her friend of what had happened and they reported the matter to the police.