The man (name withheld to protect the minor) pleaded not
guilty to indecent assault and rape charges when he appeared before Bulawayo
regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga on Monday.
Malunga remanded him in custody to Wednesday for ruling.
The State alleges that sometime in December last year, the
12-year-old girl went to fetch water from a well in Umfazimithi Village 4.
She met the accused on her way home, who fondled her
breasts.
The juvenile went home and reported the matter to her aunt,
who confronted the accused and reprimanded him. The accused allegedly promised
not to do it again.
But after that same month, the juvenile was left home with
her four-year-old sibling after the aunt went to a nearby village to buy
building material.
The accused
reportedly arrived at the girl’s home to do construction work. He then
requested the girl to help him carry bags of cement from a hut to the
construction site.
The girl agreed and when they got into the hut, the accused
allegedly tripped the juvenile to the ground and raped her.
He threatened to kill her if she disclosed the matter, and
promised to give the juvenile some money.
However, she disclosed the rape to her mother in Bulawayo,
who made a police report, leading to the arrest of the accused.
In his defence, the rapist claimed that the charges were
being falsely levelled against him due to a grudge he had with the juvenile’s
mother who he claimed was a former girlfriend. Newsday
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