Rapist grandpa begs for lenience

A 44-YEAR-OLD Binga man who raped his 11-yearold granddaughter on different occasions before silencing her with some snacks commonly known as jiggies and also threatened to divorce his wife who had discovered the offence will serve an effective 16 years behind bars.

The man who cannot be named for ethical reasons but is of Malaliya Village would take advantage of the absence of his wife to rape his granddaughter before silencing her by promising to buy her jiggies and biscuits.

However, his actions were discovered by his wife and he threatened to divorce her if she reported the matter to the police. The man also got support from his relatives.

Though he initially denied the rape charges alleging bad blood between him and his granddaughter he later admitted and begged the court for lenience.

Hwange regional magistrate Mr Collet Ncube would have none of it and convicted him of three counts of rape slapping him with an 18-year prison term before conditionally suspending two years of the sentence.

The court heard that on 14 February the complainant’s grandmother was admitted to St Luke’s Hospital in Lupane and left her granddaughter in her husband’s custody.

He took advantage of the absence of the child’s grandmother and pounced on her while she was sleeping on the floor in the same room.

He raped her once and promised to buy her jiggies and biscuits.

From that day on the man would on different occasions sexually abuse the Grade 5 pupil using the same modus operandi. However, on 5 March the girl who had gathered up courage informed her grandmother of what she was being subjected to. The grandmother tried to reveal the issue but the man and his relatives teamed up against her and threatened to chase her away from their matrimonial home.

Fearing the threatened collapse of her marriage she kept silent about the issue.

The matter resurfaced two months later after the girl’s teacher caught wind of the case through rumours and reported the matter to the police. However, upon being questioned the girl initially denied the rape out of fear of victimisation.

She was taken to hospital for medical examination where a report was compiled and subsequently produced in court as evidence.

Following assurances of protection on 12 July the girl and her grandmother were re-interviewed.

They made startling revelations on how the man’s family had conspired to bury the rape issue leading to his arrest.