A 41-year-old Mutare man has been slapped with an 18-year jail sentence after being convicted of raping his four-year-old daughter.

The convict will spend the next 15 years behind bars after three years of his 18-year sentence were suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.

The State pleaded with the court for a stiffer penalty arguing that the man had scarred his daughter for life and had to be used as an example to would-be offenders.

Facts are that the 4-year old was raped after being left in her father’s custody while the mother went to Mutare CBD.

The minor’s grandmother discovered that she had been raped on the same day before reporting the matter to the police leading to the man’s arrest.

-State Media