The trial of businessman Ishmael Matyenyika who allegedly started r@ping his sister-in-law in 2007 and later f0rc3d her to ab0rt twice, opened in Harare this week.
Upon comm!tt!ng the alleged cr!m3,the two began a 10-year relationship during which the complaint fell pregnant three times.
He appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mr Themba Kuwanda charged with two counts of r@pe and aggravated indecent @ss@ult.
The State is alleging that sometime in 2007 at around 7am the complainant, who was still a teenager, visited Matyenyika’s residence while on school holiday.
It is believed that @ccused was left at the home with the complainant`s sister while his wife went to pick up her children from school .
The suspect invited the complainant to his bedroom where he told her that she was now his new wife given to him by her parents.
Matyenyika forced the complainant to perform oral s3x and onlyb released her when his wife had come back home.
The !ll!c!t activity occured on numerous occassions until 2011,however the complainant did not disclose the @bus3.
On the second attempt, it is believed that sometime in 2011 at the complainant`s residence in Waterfalls ,an aunt asked the victim to take some food to Matyenyika who was in his room.The victim was again r@p3d and this continued until 2014 and the v!ctim failed to disclose the matter again.
The victim got pregnant in the same year,and she was able to disclose the @buse to her sister`s friend who later advised her to take medications to t3rmin@te the pregnacy. The court heard in 2016, the complainant started working for Matyenyika at his restaurant and he would take the complainant to different lodges and hotels where he would ƨǝxu@lly @buse3 her.
Furthermore in 2018,the complainant got pregnant again and Matyenyika forced the vict!m to ab0rt it.
In 2022, the complainant became pregnant again as a result of r@p3 this time she chose not ab0rt and she gave birth to a baby who was adopted by the Department of Social Welfare before being transferred to the care of a foster parent.
After the birth of the child, the complainant later narrated her story to her aunt who tried to resolve the issue before she reported Matyenyika to police.
However, Matyenyika in his defence denied both charges arguing that he had been in a r0mantic relationship with the complainant since 2020. He said their affair turned sour this year after he discovered that the complainant was having another affair with a woman (l3sbianism).
Source MyZimbabwe
