A mentally disturbed man who allegedly raped his two grandchildren has appeared before Gwanda regional magistrate Joseph Mabeza facing three counts of rape. PERPETUAL PHIRI OWN CORRESPONDENT
The 61-year-old man from Nkashe area pleaded not guilty to all counts and was remanded in custody to today for continuation of trial.
Regional prosecutor Johannes Tlou said on July 5 2013 at around 7am, the grandfather entered the bedroom hut where his two grandchildren both aged seven years were preparing to go to school.
He promised to give them some money and then took them to the kitchen while allegedly threatening them with a knife and a small rope.
He allegedly took one of them into his blankets and raped her and used the rope to whip her as she was crying.
The court heard that he grabbed his second grandchild and raped her once. After allegedly raping them, the man ordered his grandchildren not to go to school.
The State alleged that later that same day at around 9pm, he entered the minors’ bedroom hut carrying an axe and threatened to kill them. He then forced one of the girls to go with him to the kitchen where he raped her.
The matter came to light the following morning at around 4am when the girls’ grandmother found the girl sleeping in the kitchen with the grandfather after she had received an anonymous phone call informing her that he was abusing the minors.
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The two girls were then taken to hospital for medical examination before the man was arrested.
The grandmother told the court that he was born mentally unstable and he was taking some medication, but he was refusing to take his medication at the time he committed the alleged rapes.
He told the court that if ever he committed the alleged rapes, it would have been when he was mentally unstable, but he was now fine and was sorry about it.
“Your worship I did not know what I was doing when I committed the offence I’m being accused of, but what I know is that my sister holds a grudge against me. However, I would like to apologise to her though and I won’t repeat it again because I now no longer sustain an erection as I took some pills to stop the erections. More so I want to plead with my sister to take me home because prison is not good for my health condition,” he said.
