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A Binga woman who allegedly facilitated the rape of her sister as compensation for cheating on her husband and failing to bear children has been locked up. The woman whose identity is being concealed to protect the victim appeared before a Hwange magistrate charged with rape and was remanded in custody to October 4 awaiting trial. She is alternatively being charged with procuring as defined in Section 83 of the Criminal Law [Codification and Reform] Act, Chapter 9:23. According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) sometime in August 2018, the accused person took the complainant who is her sister to stay with her in Gwanda on the pretext that she would send her to a school there. In October 2013, the accused person went to Binga leaving the complainant and her husband staying in one room.

The complainant never went to school. “The complainant questioned the accused person’s husband why she was not going to school and he told her that his wife had cheated on him so the accused had agreed to give the complainant to him as compensation for not bearing him children. “The accused person’s husband stayed with the complainant in Gwanda from October 2018 to November 2018 and had sexual intercourse with her several times without her consent,” it is alleged. It is further alleged that when the accused person returned to Gwanda, her husband continued to have sexual intercourse with the complainant in her presence.

The accused person would also give the complainant a red concoction to drink after several encounters. The complainant tried to run away in August 2021 but she was caught and brought back. “The accused person’s husband threatened to kill her,” said the NPA. The complainant eventually managed to escape during the same month and informed her parents of her ordeal but nothing was done about it. She then made a police report on the 17th of June 2024 in Bulawayo leading to her sister’s arrest.