TWO rapist uncles from Lupane, one of whom is HIV positive, will spend an effective 12 years in jail each after they sexually abused their 11-year-old niece.
BY SILAS NKALA
The two men, aged 20 and 42, whose names cannot be published to protect the identity of the victim, were handed the 12-year sentences on Monday when they appeared before Hwange Regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga.
They pleaded not guilty to the charge. The girl was also repeatedly abused by her 15-year-old cousin.
The boy was said to have repeated the offence in December when the girl’s grandfather had gone to a funeral service.
The rape was discovered by the girl’s Bulawayo-based grandmother who had spotted her soiled pants when she had visited her.
The boy was later arrested on May 15 this year and sentenced to four strokes last week.
All the offences were said to have occurred between December 2014 and February this year.
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According to the prosecutor Tawanda Sigauke, the two men took advantage of the girl after one of them caught their 15-year-old male cousin raping her in the bush.
Sigauke told the court that after raping the girl in the bush, the boy committed the offence again on two other occasions after he had lured her to his bedroom.
The court was also told that the 42-year-old uncle, who also sexually abused the girl, was HIV positive.
He was said to have infected the girl during the rape, as he did not use protection.
The older uncle then gave the girl R2 as atonement for the abuse.
Sigauke said that the 20-year-old uncle, also from Lupane, raped the girl twice in December last year after luring her to a secluded spot.
He (20-year-old) was said to have repeated the offence in February when he raped the girl again after she had entered his bedroom to serve him lunch.
