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Codelia Mondela, Court Reporter
A PLUMTREE man allegedly broke into his 16-year-old neighbour’s bedroom, chased away her boyfriend and threatened to sjambok her before raping her once while she was menstruating.

The 44-year-old man, name withheld to protect the minor, went on to write a letter to the victim and accused her of infecting him with a sexually transmitted disease.

He had allegedly initially proposed love to the juvenile and was turned down.

A court heard that he forcibly entered the minor’s bedroom by kicking down the door and found her with her boyfriend. Upon failure to get rid of the boyfriend he called two men on his cell phone for backup.

The boyfriend, the court heard, left the minor, fearing for his life.

The man pleaded not guilty to rape yesterday before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Joseph Mabeza, who remanded him in custody for continuation of trial.

The minor told the court she was never in a relationship with the man. She said the accused despised her boyfriend who was a herdsman.

However, the man said he was in love with the minor.

“I even purchased airtime for her and fixed her WhatsApp, but I never raped her,” he said.

The accused person denied ever writing a letter to the juvenile.

He said: “I only slept in her room and did not rape her as she was menstruating.”

The prosecutor, Mr Tinashe Dzipe said the man had sex with the minor without her consent on June, 9 this year around midnight while her mother was in South-Africa.

He said the man had gone to the juvenile’s home to ask for building material during the day and she had asked him to download WhatsApp for her.

“The man knocked on her bedroom door at around 10PM and she denied him entry revealing that she was with her boyfriend. He kicked the door and gained entry into the bedroom,” he said.

“Once inside the man chased her boyfriend by threatening to assault him and he remained inside the room and raped the minor using protection,” Mr Dzipe said.

The matter came to light when the man wrote a letter on June 26 threatening the minor.

The juvenile showed her mother the letter, who assisted her to report the matter to the police leading to his arrest. — @MondelaC