Raping stepdaughter, 9, earns Bikita man 36-year j...

Raping stepdaughter, 9, earns Bikita man 36-year jail term

Zim Now Writer

A Bikita man was last week jailed for 36 years following his conviction for raping his nine-year-old stepdaughter on several occasions.

The paedophile repeatedly raped his daughter whenever he was left to look after the girl and her siblings at Shumba Village.

The abuse came to light after his five-year-old daughter caught him in the act in their kitchen hut after their mother had left the two girls, her husband and a 16-month toddler as she went to fetch water.

The paedophile’s daughter threatened to tell her mother what she had witnessed but the father threatened to stab her if she ever told anyone, according to the national Prosecuting Authority.

The mother walked in and confronted him over what had happened.

The mother then realised that her daughter had been raped and there was semen on a towel he had spread on the floor.

“The five-year-old sister walked in as he was in the act and told him that she was going to tell their mother. The accused also threatened to stab her with a knife. The complainant’s mother walked in, found him threatening the five-year-old and saw the sperm on the towel that he had spread on the floor where he raped the complainant. He pleaded with her and asked for forgiveness,” the court papers read in part.

The matter was then kept a secret, but the unrepentant father raped the stepdaughter again in December 2022 after his wife had visited her aunt in the same village.

The girl then confessed to her uncle who accompanied her to the police to make a report, leading to the arrest of her stepdad.

However, the stepfather will serve 32 years effective after four years of his sentence were suspended conditionally.