JUDGMENT in a case in which a Beitbridge cross-border transporter is being accused of raping his daughter on several occasions since she was 13 years old has been set for Thursday this week.
The man denies the charges.
His wife, the victim’s stepmother, is already serving a four-year jail term for her part in the termination of the child’s pregnancy.
The Beitbridge Regional Magistrates Court was turned into a theatre of drama as the man’s defence lawyer Muchineripi Nhire stepped up efforts to absolve his client.
Nhire, on Tuesday last week, brought the jailed stepmother to court, where she completely denied assisting the child to terminate the pregnancy.
She also denied her confession to police about the induced abortion and her subsequent plea of guilty in court.
The stepmother told the court that she lied hoping to be freed.
“The policeman, who recorded my statement, deceived me and told me what to say. He made me believe it was a small case and if I pleaded guilty, the court would not send me to jail. Those were all lies,” she said.
“Even the mitigation by my lawyer was his own thinking. I did not get time to talk to him. It was all hurried and I was not given any chance,” she said under cross-examination from prosecutor Willbrought Muleya.
Nhire also called district medical officer Linos Samhere, who examined and compiled a medical affidavit for the abortion produced in court.
Samhere described the victim as sad and dejected during examination.
The girl, who cannot be named to protect her image, claimed her father raped her several times since she was 13 until last year.
She told the court she informed her stepmother who at a meeting between the three forced her father to confess saying he had done it for ritual purposes to make money.
Source Zimbabwe Situation
