Mazowe-based Denis Marodza (33) was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a Bindura magistrate after he raped a five-year-old girl in the bush.
Marodza pleaded guilty to the charge.
Prosecutor Edward Katsvairo told the court that on October 4 the suspect saw children playing and approached them.
He asked the complainant to accompany him to a nearby plot and she refused.
Marodza dragged the girl into the bush and raped her before giving her one dollar to buy her silence.
The girl was heard crying by a passerby who came to her rescue and a police report was filed.