Zimbabwe: herd boy gets 15 years in prison for raping employer’s daughter

A 20-year-old man from Magunje was sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping his employer’s daughter on several occasions.

The man appeared before the Karoi Magistrates’ Courts on two counts of rape.

Sometime in March 2024, the man who worked as a shepherd boy met the complainant (12), his employer’s daughter who was returning from school.

He dragged her to a nearby bush and raped her. The man fled after committing the offense.

He also raped the complainant on another day in the same March when they were working in a tobacco shed, before threatening to attack her if she told her mother about the crime.

Sometime in May 2024, the man also fondled the complainant’s breasts and she told her mother about the incident.

The complainant’s mother ordered the man to desist from such behavior. The rape incidents came to light when the complainant became pregnant and she told her mother about the facts.

A report was drawn up that led to the man’s arrest.