The ManicaPost
Luthando Mapepa Post Correspondent
CHIPINGE Rural District Council’s Ward 13 councillor, Daniel Dhliwayo Chivhovho (63), was last Friday jailed 15 years for raping a mentally challenged woman.
Chivhovho of Grassflats Farm in Chief Mutema’s area had pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape when he appeared before regional magistrate, Mr Tendai Mahwe, who convicted him because of overwhelming evidence.
The councillor will serve an effective 12-year jail term after Mr Mahwe suspended three years on condition that Chivhovho does not commit a similar offence in the next five years.
Prosecuting, Mr Themba Dhliwayo said sometime in February 2019, Chivhovho went to the complainant’s house with the intention of seeing her husband.
“When he arrived at the complainant’s homestead, he found her alone, doing household chores. The accused person grabbed the complainant by the stomach, demanding to be intimate with her. The complainant refused, but the accused promised to give her some bags of maize,” he said.
“Chivhovho raped the complainant once. He then threatened her with death if she ever disclosed what had happened to anyone,” said Mr Dhliwayo.
In the second incident which also happened in February 2019, Chivhovho went to the complainant’s homestead and found her sweeping the kitchen hut.
Chivhovho entered the hut and demanded to sleep with her again, but she refused. He raped her again.
On the third occasion, Chivhovho found the complainant home alone again and ordered her to go to her bedroom hut.
She refused, but Chivhovho grabbed the complainant and dragged her into the hut. He then raped her.
However, following this incident, the complainant ran to her aunt’s homestead, which is about four kilometers away from hers, and narrated her ordeal.
A report was made to the police, leading to CEnds
