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Thandeka Moyo, Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO pastor yesterday stunned a court when he admitted that he raped his stepdaughter for four consecutive years from 2012 until she fell pregnant this year.

The 40-year-old Fountain of Life in Christ Church pastor, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, told regional magistrate Mr Chrispen Mberewere that he raped his stepdaughter to equip her with “practical sex skills” for the future.

Mr Mberewere sentenced the pastor to 20 years imprisonment, the maximum sentence for rape.
Members of his family wept uncontrollably as they bade farewell to the pastor who will spend the next 20 years behind bars for abusing the girl since she was 14-years-old.

“Accused is a minister of religion who vowed he would never repeat his sin and apologised to his family, the community, the court and God. He explained that he was concerned about his stepdaughter’s safety from sexual abuse by men and was equipping her for her own protection,” said Mr Mberewere.

“He raped his stepdaughter for the past four years and it wasn’t just a single chance encounter with temptation. By his own admission, he was the typical wolf in sheep’s clothing. The pastor has practically ruined the girl’s life after reducing her to a sex slave to be abused at the whim of his perverted mind,” he said giving his reasons for sentence.

“He raped his stepdaughter many times over a four-year period and if the State had managed to list all counts for him to receive punishment in respect of each one, he was going to face several lifetimes in prison.”

Prosecuting, Mr Simbarashe Manyiwa said in 2012, the pastor started staying with the girl and sometime in June that year, he called her into his bedroom saying he wanted to teach her how mature people live practically.

“On the same day, he asked his stepdaughter to sit on the bed and raped her once with a condom on. After the rape he took the used condom and showed the girl sperms as a way of teaching her safe sex,” said Mr Manyiwa.

“He then ordered the girl to keep quiet as his wife trusted him so much that she wouldn’t believe her if she opened up. From that time the pastor would have intercourse with his stepdaughter anytime of the day in his wife’s absence.”

Mr Manyiwa said the rape continued until last month when the girl missed her period and was questioned.

She denied sleeping with anyone until her mother took her for a pregnancy test which came out positive and she eventually revealed that the pastor had raped her since 2012 leading to his arrest.