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Court Reporter

A 22-year-old man was yesterday jailed for an effective 12 years for raping his seven-year-old niece on two incidents after luring her to a secluded place under the pretext of playing hide and seek game.

He was initially jailed for 15 years when he appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mrs Gloria Takundwa, who suspended three years of his jail term.

In January last year, the uncle called the seven-year-old girl and took her outside the house so that they could play hide and seek.

But while they were on top of a deck outside their house he ordered the girl to lie down and raped her twice.

He then promised to buy her some sweets before they both returned to the house.

On February 1 this year, the uncle again asked the girl to accompany him outside so that they could play hide and seek with other children. He then hid with the girl under an avocado tree and raped her.

The following day, the girl told her mother of the two assaults and she made a police report.