Magistrate Constance Mtandwa has sentenced a woman to 36
months in jail for protecting her husband from prosecution after he repeatedly
raped her nine-year-old daughter between January and February.
The 37-year-old woman, a vendor from Makondo Township who
cannot be named to protect the identity of the minor, used methylated spirits
to treat her daughter’s lacerated private parts after the rape by her
36-year-old husband, who is step-father to the victim, and failed to report the
matter to the police.
She was convicted for contravening Section 7 (3) of the
Children’s Act Chapter 5.06 which talks about ‘ill-treatment or abuse of
children and young persons’, but 12 months of her sentence were suspended on
condition of good behavior.
Six months of the prison sentence were for obstruction of
justice and 24 months were for child abuse, but six months were set aside in
condition that she will not commit a similar offence in the next five years.
The State, represented by Nyasha Dzirutsva alleged that on
an unknown date in January, the accused, who also cannot be named to protect
the identity of the minor, raped his stepdaughter once and threatened to beat
her with an electric cable if she told anybody.
The injured girl then told her mother upon her arrival from
work but she ordered her to remain silent.
The accused then kept on raping there girl and literally
tore apart her private parts until suspicious neighbours alerted the police.
All along, the woman was using methylated spirits to treat the victim’s wounds.
Meanwhile, her husband is serving an effective 18 years in
jail for the rape. Tell Zimbabwe
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