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Fungai Lupande Court Reporter
A 20-year-old Mazowe man who impregnated his cousin was last Friday sentenced to three years in jail for rape and incest.
The man was facing rape and incest charges, which Harare magistrate Mr Temba Kuwanda,treated as one count for the purposes of sentence.
Mr Kuwanda sentenced the man to four years in jail before suspending one year on condition that he does not commit an offence of a sexual nature five years after his release.

The court heard that on July 4 last year the man followed his cousin on her way from school and proposed love to her.
The girl, who was in Form 3, turned down the proposal saying the two were related.

On another day, the man followed his cousin again proposing love, a request which was turned down again.
The court heard that on a different day, the girl passed by her cousin’s place of residence on her way from school.

The man welcomed the girl into his room and she sat on the sofa. The man started pestering the girl for intimacy and he started fondling her before raping her.
After the sexual assault, the man cautioned the girl against revealing what had happened.

In August the same year, the girl fell pregnant and the man advised her to conceal the pregnancy until he told relatives about their incestuous relationship.
On February 14 this year the pair connived to run away from home and the man started renting a room for the girl in Glendale, promising to tell her parents about their relationship.

The pair became intimate several times until the end of February when the man failed to pay rent for the girl.
She later revealed the matter to a relative, leading to the man’s arrest.