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Yeukai Karengezeka Herald Correspondent

A Chitungwiza man was last Friday sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping three minors on several occasions.

Malvin Mapfumo (21) appeared before Chitungwiza regional magistrate Mrs Estere Chivasa facing six counts of rape.

He pleaded not guilty, but was convicted on all counts after a full trial.

Mrs Chivasa initially sentenced Mapfumo to 20 years in prison for raping the first complainant four times, but suspended two years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence.

For raping the other two, who are sisters and friends of the first complainant, Mapfumo was sentenced to six years. He will serve both sentences concurrently resulting in 18 effective years in jail.

Prosecuting, Mr Tendai Mukariri proved that sometime in September last year, the first complainant who is aged 11 and her two friends were on their way to fetch water when Mapfumo asked them to pass by his house.

When they complied, Mapfumo asked the first complainant to go into his room while the other two remained in the passage.

When she got into the room he ordered her to remove her clothes and he raped her.

On another day sometime in October, the three minors visited Mapfumo’s place, where he raped the second and third complainants.

This happened again on several occasions and in one of the instances Mapfumo gave the second complaint 25 cents after raping her.

The matter came to light in November, after the first complainant discovered white pass on her private parts and she took some photos with her aunt’s phone, but failed to delete them.

The aunt saw the pictures and informed the girl’s father who then confronted her and she revealed what had happened to her and her two friends.

The parents of the minors then reported the matter to the police, leading to Mapfumo’s arrest.