By Sithandweyinkosi Mpofu

A 23-year-old man who raped his 14-year-old cousin sister has been slapped with a 36-month jail sentence when he appeared before Kwekwe Magistrate Sheryl Tembo recently.

The man from Torwood, Redcliff whose identity is withheld to protect the girl had six months of his sentence suspended on condition he does not commit a similar offence in the next five years.

The man had unprotected sexual intercourse with the girl with her ‘consent’ between April 2023 and September 2023.

The matter came to light on 8  September 2023 when the girl’s mother noticed that her child had not been asking money for sanitary wear for quite some time.

The mother asked the child why she had not been asking for money to buy sanitary pads and she failed to give her a satisfactory answer.

The mother then decided to use a pregnancy test on her child and the test confirmed that she was pregnant.

This is when the 14-year-old told her mother that she had been having unprotected sexual intercourse with her cousin since April 2023.

The matter was reported at Redcliff Police Station leading to the arrest of the man.