Man Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Sleeping With His Biological Daughter
In a Plumtree magistrate’ s court, a 42- year- old man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping his biological daughter, a crime that simultaneously gave birth to his biological son and granddaughter. The man, whose name is being kept secret to protect the victim, comes from Dombodema, Matabeleland North, which is the home of Chief Hikwa.
The woman was living in a single room with her parents and siblings in 2013, when the horrifying abuse started, the court heard. One evening, the father got out of bed and sexually abused his daughter while his wife was out.
” He threatened the complainant by saying that, if she reported him, she would lose a breadwinner, ” the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ) said in a statement, describing the horrific events. Thus, she became pregnant after he sexually assaulted her several times. While the accused was pregnant, the accused person persisted in raping her.
The violence persisted during the victim’ s pregnancy, thus the man’ s actions weren’ t an isolated episode. In order to escape her abuser and start a new life away from his shadow, the young mother traveled to Botswana after giving birth to a daughter in 2016.
She raised her daughter by herself in Botswana for a number of years. But last December, she brought her now eight- year- old child back to Zimbabwe. Making the decision to go back home was a challenging and anxious one. She eventually reported the years of violence she had endured because she was afraid her father would mistreat her kid as well.
Her bravery resulted in her father’ s arrest and following legal action. In its presentation to the Plumtree Magistrates’ Court, the state described the events of that 2013 evening and the abuse pattern that followed. The court heard how the guy threatened his victim to keep quiet, telling her that if she reported the assault, she would lose her source of support. This fear kept her from getting treatment sooner because of the power disparity in the father- daughter relationship.
The court found the man guilty of rape and sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment. The sentence reflects the severity of the crime and the lasting trauma inflicted upon the victim.
