Thandeka Moyo Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO woman’s bid to let her 18-year-old son off the hook after he allegedly raped his seven-year-old sister failed yesterday after the State refused to let her withdraw the charges.

The man allegedly raped his sister, a Grade Two pupil, at their parents’ home in Romney Park suburb on Saturday.

This comes barely a week after a Nkayi father withdrew charges against his daughter’s rapist (his relative) after he decided the family would sort his daughter’s sexual abuse out of court.

Unlike the Nkayi father whose withdrawal application was accepted, the woman was unlucky as she also failed to get bail for her son.

She finally resolved to engage a lawyer to represent him.

The lawyer, Vuyile Mpofu from Marondedze, Mukuku and Partners distanced himself from the withdrawal of charges saying he was only consulted after the woman failed in her bid to have the case dropped.

“I didn’t take part in trying to withdraw the rape charges against the man. I only took up the matter when she realised that the State was going ahead with prosecuting her son,” said Mpofu.

Senior regional magistrate Mark Dzira remanded the man in custody to July 16.

The woman could not hold back her tears in court.

Tinashe Dzipe for the State alleges that on Saturday, the girl was left in the custody of her brother at their Romney Park home while their other sister went to the city centre to buy electricity.

“At around 10AM, the girl was watching television in the sitting room while her brother was asleep on a mattress. The man called her into his blankets and undressed her before raping her once,” said Dzipe.

“When the sister returned, she was welcomed by the crying girl who hugged her. On inquiring why she was crying, the girl told the sister that her brother had inserted his penis into her privates.”

A police report was made immediately leading to the man’s arrest and their mother was notified when she came back from work.

In an affidavit submitted to a regional magistrate last week, the Nkayi father said both his 12-year-old daughter and his nephew aged 18 were school going children whose future may be threatened by the commencement of the rape trial.

“I’m the father to the complainant and I hereby wish to drop the charges against the accused because both these teenagers are school going children and their future is at stake. They’re related and we suspect they engaged in sexual intercourse out of ignorance,” he said.

“We sat down as relatives and resolved to settle this matter out of court.”

His request was accepted by magistrate Abednico Ndebele to the outcry of activists who described the father’s actions as a violation of the girl’s rights.

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