A bid by a 53-year-old Beitbridge-based cross-border transport worker to halt his trial for the rape of his daughter over a three-year period from August 2020 when she was 13 is now going to defence, after a local regional judge rejected his application for subsequent release. The state presented its case.
Beitbridge District Judge, Mr Innocent Pibora, ruled that the man had a case to answer and so must present his defense from tomorrow.
Through his lawyer, Mr Mushinrebe Nyeri, the father denies three charges of rape.
The man is accused of raping his daughter from a previous marriage and colluding with his new wife to illegally abort the resulting pregnancy in December last year.
The 47-year-old stepmother was sentenced to four years in prison for causing the illegal abortion.
Miss Tsitsi Mutukwa, for the prosecution, said that in August 2020, the father arrived home at night and found the 13-year-old daughter in the company of her stepmother and other children.
Later that evening, when everyone had gone to bed, he stayed with her and helped her with her school holiday homework. He fondled and raped her while she was sitting on his lap.
The man tried to rape the girl in her bedroom in October 2022, but failed after he discovered that her older sister was also sleeping in the same room. But he raped her again in September 2023 after sneaking up on her when she fell asleep while watching a program on television. Announce
