ZIMBABWE – A taxi driver from Mabvuku was arraigned before the courts on allegations of raping and infecting his minor daughter with a s_exually transmitted infection (STI’s) five years ago.

The man (47), who cannot be named to protect the identity of the minor, told magistrate Estere Chivasa that the r_pe charges were fabricated by his estranged wife after a dispute over the child’s custody.

Prosecutor Panganai Chiutsi told the court that on two occasions, sometime in 2015, the complainant who was then 12 years old was left in the custody of her father by her grandmother.

Later in the evening, her father r_ped her twice and ordered her not to reveal the crime to anyone.

In 2019, the accused r_ped the minor again, but she told her aunt who, however, concealed the matter.

On May 9, 2020, she developed warts on her privates and told her aunt who she was now living with as she wanted to seek medical help, leading to the arrest of the accused.