A father has been jailed for 30 years for raping his two biological daughters over a six-year period.

The 48-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughters, denied three counts of rape but was convicted by magistrate Sibongile Marondedze, sitting at the West Commonage Magistrates Court in Bulawayo.

The court heard that the father of five, who lived with his wife and children in Nketa suburb before moving to Manningdale, sexually attacked the two girls whenever his wife was away.

The girls were aged 10 and 17 when the sex attacks started. “The accused person is a biological father to the two complainants, and he had a duty to protect them, instead he went on to rape them.

The accused person is a danger to society and himself. The only suitable sentence for such offenders is imprisonment,” Marondedze said.

He was jailed for 10 years on each of the three counts of rape brought by prosecutors. He will serve an effective 20-year jail stretch after 10 years were conditionally suspended.

Police arrested the man after the two girls separately told a friend in church about the sex abuse, which they said only got worse after their mother died in 2016.