In Zimbabwe, a 17-year-old girl from Dete in Hwange is three months pregnant after being raped by her father who forced her to swallow family planning pills three weeks after the alleged rape as a way of preventing her from conceiving.

The 38-year-old rapist father cannot be named to protect the identity of the complainant, NewZimbabwe reports.

He was not asked to plead to rape when he appeared before Hwange magistrate Rangarirai Gakanje and was remanded in custody to 23 February.

According to prosecutors, the alleged rapist father sneaked into a spare bedroom where his two daughters, the complainant and her sibling aged nine were sleeping and allegedly raped her in her sleep.

The girls’ mother was away visiting.

“On an unknown date but in the month of October 2020 at 8 pm the complainant and her sister aged nine were at home with accused. The two girls went to sleep in their own bedroom while their father retired to his own bedroom,” said the prosecutor.

“The complainant woke up at night after she felt something on top of her and she discovered that someone was having sex with her.”

The girl allegedly pushed her father aside as she reached for a torch. She lit the torch and saw her father walking out of the room.

In the morning, the girl confronted her father but he denied ever raping her.

After about three weeks, he allegedly gave her three family planning pills and ordered her to swallow them and she complied.

The girl told her mother about everything that had happened when she returned.

Her father was arrested after police got an anonymous tip-off on 18 January. The girl was referred to Hospital for medical check-up.