A 50-YEAR-OLD Harare man was yesterday jailed for 18 years after he “tested” his purportedly dysfunctional manhood on a six-year-old girl from his neighbourhood.

The rape occurred on Sunday at a farming settlement close to the city.

The rapist was jailed on his own plea of guilty to raping a Grade One pupil when he appeared before Harare magistrate Themba Kuwanda.

The court suspended six years of the sentence on condition of good behaviour.

During mitigation, the man told the court that he committed the offence to check if his manhood was now functional after he was alledgedly bewitched by his estranged wife in 1999.

“Your worship, I was bewitched by my ex-wife when we separated in 1999 and since that period to now, I only had sexual intercourse four times and I wanted to see if my erectile dysfunction had been healed,” he said, before magistrate Kuwanda told him he should have hired a sex worker instead of causing irreparable physical and psychological damage to a toddler.

The court heard that on Sunday, the infant was sent by her father to collect a grass cutter at the rapist’s residence, where she was eventually raped.

The girl’s parents reported the matter and a medical report produced in court confirmed sexual penetration.

Valerie Ngoma appeared for the State. – Newsday