Auxilia Katongomara  Court Reporter
A 52-YEAR-OLD Tsholotsho man, arrested for allegedly raping his two minor daughters has claimed that his brother is trying to fix him for refusing to give him custody of the children.The alleged rapist who cannot be named to protect the identity of his two daughters appeared before regional magistrate Sikhumbuzo Nyathi facing three counts of rape.

He pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

“Your worship, it’s my brother who is behind all this.  He is fixing me for refusing to give him custody of my two daughters after I separated with my wife a few years ago,” he said in his defence.

The father, who is accussed of sexually abusing his children aged 14 and 12, said his elder daughter fled to her uncle’s home after she failed to till the land as he had instructed her to.

“I had asked the children to assist to till the land while I was attending a funeral. Upon my return, I discovered that they had not done anything. That is when the older of the two fled from home to her uncle’s place. She spent a week at that place and I was then arrested for rape, a crime that I do not know,” he said.

Prosecuting, Masimba Saruwaka told the  court that sometime in 2009, the accused separated with his wife and was left to care of their four children.

“Sometime during the month of January last year, the accussed called his 14-year-old daughter into his bedroom and she complied.
“He allegedly grabbed her by her left hand and made her to lie on the bed facing upwards, and raped her once,” said Saruwaka.

The court heard that sometime in February, he called his 12-year-old daughter into his bedroom and repeated the same act.

Saruwaka told the court that sometime in February, at around 3PM, he called his elder daughter into the kitchen and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her.

The offence came to light after school authorities noted that she was no longer coming to school. After learning of the alleged abuse, they then reported the matter to the police.

The suspect will be back in court on Friday for judgment.

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