Man bags 20 year jail sentence for r@ping neighbour's 5-year-old daughter on matrimonial bed while his 'drunk' wife was sleeping

Beitbridge Magistrates’ court in Zimbabwe has handed a 20 year jail sentence to man found guilty of his neighbour’s 5-year-old daughter. 

The incident occurred on December 23rd, 2023, when the minor’s mother left her child with her neighbours for an out-of-town job. On the same night, the accused came home very drunk and saw his wife sleeping in the bed with the minor. He stealthily went into the blankets, where he started caressing the minor and ended up raping her. 

The child cried loudly in pain as she tried to wake the accused’s wife to no avail. When questioned, the wife said she heard the minor’s cries in her sleep but was too drunk to wake up.

The accused brought the minor some mangoes in an attempt to bribe her. He even asked her to blame the children that the minor played with in the streets when asked. 

It was further learnt that the convict’s wife noticed that the child had some discharge coming from her private parts but never asked what happened.

On the 28th of December, when the minor’s mother came back, she noticed the bruises on her child’s thighs and private parts but did not ask what had happened to her. It was only when the child told her aunt about the ordeal that the mother reported the matter to the police, leading to the arrest of the accused.