A 60-YEAR-OLD Hwange man who allegedly sexually abused his 14-year-old daughter claiming to be checking her virginity has appeared in court charged with three counts of indecent assault and one each of aggravated indecent assault and rape.

Virginity testing is a cultural practice done by some ethnic groups around the world including Zimbabwe, to determine whether a girl or woman has had sexual intercourse or not before.

The man who cannot be named to protect the complainant, pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Hwange Regional magistrate Mr Collet Ncube.

He claimed that the charges were fabricated by the complainant’s mother and grandmother to fix him following a misunderstanding over lobola.

The accused and complainant’s mother separated.

The complainant used to stay with her maternal grandmother until Grade Six when the accused took her so she could live with her in Lwendulu village, Hwange.

The complainant’s grandmother who also cannot be identified, said she couldn’t believe her son-in-law’s actions.

“One day I was passing by and the complainant saw me and started crying. She showed me a diary where she had documented the abuses by her father. She told me that the accused said some people had told him that she was no longer a virgin hence he wanted to prove for himself,” said the grandmother in court.

The court heard that the shameful father would allegedly order his daughter to share the bedroom with him after which he would sexually abuse her.- Chronicle