A 78-year-old man from Mvurwi, Mashonaland Central Province, was sentenced to seven years in jail after he was convicted of raping his neighbour’s 10-year-old daughter.
Joseph Mangwere of Ealing Farm will, however, serve an effective four years in jail after regional magistrate Estere Chivasa conditionally suspended three years of the sentence.
Prosecutor Ngoni Kaseke told the court that Mangwere raped the victim twice in August after luring her into his bedroom.
He said the suspect gave bananas to the minor so that he would not report the abuse to her parents.
However, the matter came to light when the victim’s father saw her coming from the old man’s house and confronted her.
The girl told her father about the abuse, leading to the man’s arrest.