Rapist stepdad jailed 30 years

A SILOBELA man has been sentenced to 60 years for raping his 13-year-old stepdaughter on four occasions.

The man (32) appeared before Gweru Regional Magistrate Mrs Phathekile Msipa facing four counts of rape.

He pleaded not guilty, but was convicted after a full trial.

Mrs Msipa sentenced him to 15 years in jail on each of the four counts.

The man will serve 30 years in prison after Mrs Msipa combined the four counts into two sentences of 30 years each that would run concurrently.

In passing sentence, Mrs Msipa said as a father figure, the man was supposed to protect his daughter instead of deflowering her.

“Your crime is severe and calls for a long custodial sentence to deter would-be offenders. You are sentenced to 15 years per count. Count one and two and three and four will run concurrently and you will serve 30 years effective.”

It was the State case that in June last year, the man saw his stepdaughter talking to a boy along a path that leads to their home. When the complainant arrived home, the man asked her if she was in a romantic relationship.

The man threatened to report her to her mother.

The court heard that the man armed himself with an Okapi knife before demanding to have sexual intercourse. In the same month, the court heard that the man raped her four times.

Mr Kelvin Guveya appeared for the State.