Zvikomborero Parafini AN HIV positive father, who raped his teenage daughter, has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in what regional magistrate Donald Ndirowei has described as “a bad case of rape.” Magistrate Ndirowei said he settled for the presumptive penalty of 20 years imprisonment because the case is extraordinary in that the HIV positive father raped his biological daughter. He said this calls for the stiffest and deterrent sentence that this court is empowered by law to impose.

“In sentencing the offender for rape, the court is required to have regard to all the relevant factors, including certain factors, which may have aggravated the crime, such as the age of the victim, the extent of physical and psychological injury inflicted and whether the offender was infected with a sexually-transmitted disease at the time of the rape. “The aggravating factors that I have found to exist in this matter are that the victim was seriously injured psychologically by this rape at the hands of her own biological father. “She was so battered psychologically that she even contemplated committing suicide and she only changed her mind after counselling sessions that she received at Parirenyatwa Hospital, courtesy of her step mother,” said Ndirowei.

He added: “The court has taken notice of the fact that the psychological trauma that this offence has caused on the victim’s life is very difficult to heal. “Clearly, this is a cardinal sin and one which is unforgivable.