Story By: Les Steed, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

A man who faked erectile dysfunction to his wife for 17 years has been jailed for raping his 15-year-old niece in her school uniform.

The 68-year-old man from the south-central Zimbabwean town of Zvishavane told his wife he could not have sex with her because of the problem since 2003, she told the court.

The wife said she only found out that he had been lying to her after his arrest for rape of the teenager.

The man pleaded not guilty to rape and having sex with a minor, but was sentenced to 26 years for both counts due to overwhelming evidence, which will be reduced to 22 years for good behaviour.

Gweru provincial magistrate, Mrs Phathekile Msipa, said the 53 year age gap was an aggravating factor.

She told the defendant: “The complainant is your niece and instead of protecting her you decided to abuse her.

“Such conduct is loathed by society and therefore society expects courts to remove such outcasts from communities’ midst.”

The abuse started in February 2019, when the unnamed man stopped his niece while she was on her way to school and told her she was beautiful.

He then took her to his house where he touched her indecently but did not have sex with her.

The following October he said he paid the girl a total of USD 15 (GBP 11) over the course of at least three encounters in which the pair had sex, one of which was at his office.

She had been wearing her school uniform during at least one of these encounters.

The accused was not named to prevent identifying the knees.

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