Harare, (New Ziana) –The trauma of being raped and impregnated by her biological father eight years ago led a 21-year-old woman to report him to the police for fear that he might repeat his actions on the child she conceived from the rape.
The 42-year-old man from Dombodema in Plumtree, Matebeleland South province was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the repeated rape of the woman who was 13 years at the time, resulting in the birth of a baby girl in 2016.
This forced the woman to run away from home into neighbouring Botswana. In a post on X, the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ) said the woman’s rape started sometime in 2013 when the father, who slept in the same room with his wife and the then 13-year-old daughter, took advantage of the absence of the girl’s mother and raped her one night.
He threatened her against reporting him because she would lose a breadwinner. From then on, he repeatedly raped her and she fell pregnant.
The rape continued during her pregnancy until she fled from home and went to Botswana after giving birth in 2016. When she returned home in December 2024 with her 8 year-old daughter, and fearing that her daughter might end up being abused also, the woman made a police report, leading to the man’s arrest.
Separately, the NPAZ said a 68 year-old man from Dzivarasekwa high density suburb in Harare was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for raping an 8 year-old neighbour.
The elderly man is said to have dragged the minor into his house on October 7 last year as she was going to a nearby borehole in the company of a friend to fetch water.
Inside the house, he raped her. When she later joined her friend, she narrated her ordeal to her and she told the elders, and a police report was made.
Meanwhile, the NPAZ has warned the public against paying for prosecution services throughout the country.
“The National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe does not charge members of the public for any court processes, nor does the authority receive payments from members of the public. Be warned that it is a crime to pay the prosecutors, NPA staff or any other persons purporting to represent the authority for prosecution services. Please do not pay anyone to have your case heard or expedited in any way as you will be prosecuted for corruption,” read a statement from the NPAZ.
New Ziana