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Prosper Dembedza

Herald Correspondent 

An overseer at Faith in God Ministries yesterday appeared in court facing several allegations of raping a 10-year-old girl and exposing her to pornographic videos.

He was facing charges of aggravated indecent assault and rape when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Marehwanazvo Gofa. He was remanded in custody to October 23 and was told only the High Court could grant bail.

The court heard that on July 15, the church leader was in his bedroom after work when the girl approached him and asked for his cell phone since she wanted to do her homework. 

It is alleged that instead of giving the child the cell phone, he played a pornographic video and got the girl to watch it. After watching the video, she left the accused person’s bedroom and went to do her homework. 

On another count, the accused was in his bedroom and the victim went to him to ask for money. It is the State’s case that the overseer dragged the child to the bed and raped her.

The accused person told the complainant not to tell anyone about “their secret”. 

It is alleged that on the rape count, the accused person’s door was open and the child went there to ask for his cell phone, but the accused declined to give her, saying the battery was flat and there was no electricity on the day. The accused then allegedly told the girl to close the door and he assaulted her.

The matter came to light on September 22 when the girl’s mother was watching videos from a mobicell cell phone, which is mostly used by the kids at home. She then saw a video of the girl in a pornographic pose and the child told her mother about the assault.

The matter was reported to the police leading to the arrest of the accused.