ZIMBANWE – A Chinese businessman reportedly raped his 17-year-old housemaid for months after promising to take her to China.

The 61-year-old Li Qiang was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate, Judith Taruvinga who remanded him in custody.

The State alleges that the abuse started sometime in September last year.

It is the State’s case that one day at around 7 am, the complainant was cleaning Li’s bedroom when he entered and locked the door.

While in the room, he pushed her onto the bed and told her that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with her.

The court heard that she refused.

According to court papers, Qiang promised to take the complainant to China before he forcibly removed her clothes and raped her without protection.

The court heard that after the incident he asked the complainant to stay at his residence.

It is also in the State’s case that one night she refused to open the door and he threatened to fire her from work if she failed to open the door for him. Following this incident, he would rape her on different occasions.

The matter came to light when the complainant visited her grandmother and told her what had happened.