By A Correspondent- A 25 year old man from Village 3 in Gutu has appeared in court facing charges of raping his five-year old daughter.

Godfrey Magava pleaded guilty last week before Masvingo Regional Magistrate Bishard Chineka and he was sentenced to 18 years in jail.

Police investigating the case found the girl’s blood stains on the sheets where she was raped by her father.

The State said that sometime in April at around 9am accused went to his mother-in-law Sosina Matikizha’s place. The mother-in-law is the one who stayed with the complainant for four years.

Magava forcibly took away his daughter from Matikizha arguing that he wanted to go back home and send her to school. The grandmother resisted but to no avail.

On April, 29 at around 10pm Magava who shared the blankets with his daughter removed her pant and rape her.

Chiedza Magava who was sleeping in the other room heard the girl screaming the whole night and alerted other villagers the following morning.

Two concerned neighbours Christopher Munyaradzi and Aleck Mazhindu approached the accused person and took the girl back to her grandmother.

Liberty Hove represented the State.

The complainant’s grandmother discovered the rape when she was bathing the complainant. Her private parts had bruises. She interviewed the girl who divulged the rape

A report was made at Gutu Police Station who attended to the scene.

-masvingomirror