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Daniel Kachere Herald Correspondent
A Harare man, who raped his 13-year-old daughter after giving her a glass of Mazoe Orange Crush juice laced with an unknown substance that made her lose consciousness, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison. Magistrate Mrs Kudzai Chigwedere sentenced the father (39) to 18 years imprisonment and suspended four years on condition the accused does not commit any offence of a sexual nature within five years.

He will serve an effective 14 years without the option of a fine.

In her ruling, magistrate Mrs Chigwedere said the accused deserved a deterrent sentence to discourage other parents from seeing their children as sexual toys.

She said the nature of the case was aggravating in that he was the juvenile’s biological father whom she looked up to as her sole guardian and custodian and that he was 24 years older than her.

“The accused was the sole custodian and guardian to the complainant and she looked up to him for support, protection and guidance in life.

“The complainant had all her trust in the accused since he was her only guardian present, after he divorced her mother and the accused went on to break all that trust and raped her. That is very aggravating since he was her biological father,” she said.

Prosecutor Noel Mupeiwa told the court that on November 26 2013 at around 8pm, the accused was at Moleni, Petersburg in South Africa where he gave his daughter a glass of Mazoe Orange Crush juice.

She drank the juice and started feeling dizzy and sleepy. After about three minutes she became unconscious and he raped her once.

The complainant gained consciousness in a hospital after feeling some pain on her vagina where she discovered that she had been raped.

Her stepmother was by her side and she told her about the incident.

The stepmother then confronted her husband who refuted the allegations and threatened to stab the complainant to death if she ever revealed the matter to anyone else.

In December 2014, she returned to Zimbabwe and proceeded to Kadoma where she informed her uncle’s wife about it, but she took no action.

On June 29 2015 she went to Snake Park in Harare where she told her relative about the matter and he immediately reported it to he police.

The complainant was medically examined leading to the arrest of the accused.