By A Correspondent- A 35 year old soldier has been sentenced to an effective 18 months in prison for raping a 13-year-old girl at Drill Hall swimming pool in Bulawayo.

Ephraim Mbengo from Combat Brooke, Llewellin, Bulawayo, appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Amanda Ndlovu last Thursday facing a rape charge.

He was convicted and sentenced to and effective 24 month in jail, six months of which were suspended for five years on condition he does not commit a similar offence.

The court was told that the soldier and the minor met on August 20, 2020 where Mbengo proposed love to the girl and she accepted.

They allegedly met at night the following day on August 21 at Drill Hall swimming pool where Mbengo became intimate with the girl.

The matter was discovered after the minor went for medical examination.

In his defence, Mbengo argued that the minor had another boyfriend who was a vendor. He tried to dodge imprisonment, saying the girl did not voluntarily implicate him, but was forced to do so by her father who assaulted her.

-Newsday