AN EX-POLICEMAN allegedly raped his brother’s daughter on numerous occasions during his wife’s absence threatening to shoot her with a pistol if she revealed the offence.
SILAS NKALA STAFF REPORTER
This was heard by Bulawayo magistrate Sibongile Msipa when the ex-policeman (44) of Kumalo in Bulawayo, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the rape victim, appeared in court on Tuesday charged with five counts of raping his niece.
The ex-cop was denied bail by Msipa who said he was likely to interfere with witnesses and remanded him in custody to April 2.
The court heard that the complainant is now 26 years old and stays in Mkoba, Gweru.
The State said towards end of 2000, the ex-cop asked to take the girl in after she had collected her Grade 7 results indicating that he wanted to pay her secondary school fees since the mother was a widow and was struggling to raise money.
The ex-cop was still serving and resided at Ross Camp with his wife and daughter.
He allegedly took the girl in and enrolled her for Form 1 at Northlea High School in 2001.
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The girl was sent back home at the beginning of the term for non-payment of fees and found her uncle alone as his wife had gone to work and the daughter was at school.
Her allegedly called her to his bedroom and asked her if she was able to keep secrets and she responded in the affirmative.
It is alleged that he promised to pay her fees and buy her uniforms if she kept the secrets.
The following day, the girl did not go to school and remained home with her uncle. The State alleged that she cleaned the house and then took a bath. When she was naked in her bedroom, the ex-cop went into the room and ordered her to bend before allegedly raping her.
After the alleged rape, he told her that was the secret she was supposed to keep.
He is said to have raped her while his wife was away in Harare. When the girl protested, he allegedly went to his bedroom and brought a pistol and threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone.
In 2003, the ex-cop’s family relocated to Northend and the State alleged that one night when his wife had gone to Harare, he forced the girl into his bedroom and raped her before ordering her to go and sleep with his daughter in another bedroom.
The ex-cop allegedly continued raping the girl when his family moved to Kumalo in 2005 whenever his wife was away.
The offence came to light in 2006 when the girl fell in love with a boy and they became intimate. The boyfriend asked why she was not a virgin and she related her ordeal to him. The girl later fell pregnant and the matter was discussed by family members and that was when the rape was also exposed.
In February this year, she heard a programme about sexual abuse on Radio Zimbabwe and that was when she had the guts to report the matter to the police leading to her uncle’s arrest.
