BINGA: A polygamist pleaded not guilty to rape saying he did not penetrate his victim but was still jailed for 10 years for sexually abusing one of his wives’ younger sister aged six, NewZimbabwe.com has reported.
Lazarus Simukani Muleya, 46, of Mulambe Village under Chief Siabua, Binga, was caught on top of the defenceless girl he ambushed on her way from a borehole.
Muleya pleaded not guilty to rape arguing that he didn’t penetrate the girl, but Hwange regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga convicted him for aggravated indecent assault Friday.
“You may have escaped rape but you are hereby found guilty of aggravated indecent assault since you exposed your manhood to the girl and tried to insert it into her private before your wife disturbed you,” said the magistrate.
Prosecuting, Bheki Tshabalala said the assault on the girl, who is doing Early Childhood Development at a local school, took place in August last year.
“On the 21st of August 2016 at around 1pm the victim was coming from a nearby water source to fetch some water in the company of her friends when they met the accused who suddenly grabbed her,” said the prosecutor.
The court heard that Muleya twisted the girl’s hand and a bucket of water she was carrying fell to the ground.
The girl’s colleagues fled from the scene and stood at a distance.
“He removed the complainant’s panties to knee level while he was kneeling as he also lowered his pair of trousers,” said the prosecutor.
Tshabalala said Muleya drew out his manhood and mounted the girl who screamed for help as he forcibly tried to penetrate her.
Muleya’s wife (the girl’s sister) who testified in court arrived at the scene and rescued the little girl as she shouted at her husband.
Muleya fled from the scene as his wife threatened to report him to the police which she never did.
The matter only came to light when the victim narrated what had happened to her to her mother on a later date leading to Muleya’s arrest.-NewZimbabwe
