A HARARE magistrate yesterday sentenced a Greendale man to an effective 20 years in jail for sexually abusing his 18-year-old daughter well knowing that he was HIV positive.
Magistrate Donald Ndirowei convicted the man after prosecutor Shambadzeni Fungura proved that on March 2 this year, the man went to Epworth and told his sister who was staying with the daughter that he wanted to take her home.
Fungura told the court that the man and his daughter boarded a commuter omnibus and disembarked near Coronation Avenue in Greendale, along the Harare-Mutare Highway, where he touched her private parts.
They later walked to his friend’s house, where he drank whiskey before proceeding home with the daughter.
Fungura also told the court that while at his house, the man told his daughter that he wanted to be intimate with her, but she declined.
She said the daughter, noticing her father’s unbecoming behaviour, recorded the conversation using her mobile phone.
The court further heard that the father, who did not take his daughter’s rejection well, attacked her before raping her once.
In sentencing the man, Ndirowei applauded the daughter’s stepmother, who reported the case to the police after the girl sent her the recording.
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He described the offence as gruesome, adding that the man deserved to be punished for the crime because he emotionally damaged the teenage girl.
“The victim was seriously psychologically injured at the hands of her father that she even contemplated committing suicide. She only changed her mind after counselling was administered to her at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals when her stepmom managed to convince her to take the sessions,” Ndirowei said.
He said the man had to be “crucified” for his crime as the medical report submitted during trial revealed that despite knowing that he was HIV positive, he raped his daughter.
“During the pre-sentencing hearing, it was revealed that the offender was HIV positive and was aware of his status. The victim fortunately received post-exposure prophylaxis (treatment) within 72 hours since she reported early and tested negative of the virus,” he said.
Ndirowei sentenced the man to the presumptive penalty of 20 years imprisonment despite the girl’s plea to sentence her father to life imprisonment.
