A 24-year-old man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for rape after “sleeping” with his 12-year-old “girlfriend”.
Tinomudaishe Macheza, a herdsman from Mawabeni, Matabeleland South appeared before Gwanda regional magistrate, Mrs Sibonginkosi Mkandla facing rape charges.
Macheza denied the charges insisting that the minor was his girlfriend. He argued that the 12-year-old had consented to having sex with him since the two of them were in love.
However, the magistrate ruled that a 12-year-old cannot give consent and convicted Macheza of rape. She sentenced him to 13 years behind bars. She then suspended three years on the condition that Macheza does not commit a similar offence within the next five years, leaving him with an effective 10-year sentence.
During the trial, the court heard that Macheza entered into a purported relationship with the minor early on this year.
The Chronicle reports the prosecutor as saying..
“Later on, Macheza took the minor to his home where he asked to be intimate with her despite knowing that she was a minor.Macheza requested to have sexual intercourse with the complainant who agreed. He took her into his bedroom and had sexual intercourse with her. The matter came to light on the following day when the complainant’s mother noticed that her daughter wasn’t feeling well as she was experiencing stomach pains, backache and was bleeding from her private parts.”
Macheza was arrested after the minor’s parents filed a police report.
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