A 49 year old man from Sizinda suburb in Bulawayo allegedly turned his daughter into a sex slave, raping her five times, at one point during her menstrual period during a period spanning from February 2014 to November this year.

The rape occurred in South Africa where the woman (23) was offered a job by her father at a company he owns in Johannesburg.

The rape victim eventually fled from her father last month after maternal relatives advised her to come back home.

She is currently staying at a safe shelter with her three-year-old daughter who witnessed one of the sex attacks.

The woman yesterday opened up in court before Bulawayo Senior Regional Magistrate Tranos Utahwashe.

She said she bled after every sexual encounter with her father. Mr Utahwashe remanded the man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, to next week for continuation of trial.

Prosecuting, Mr Robin Mukura alleged that on February 11 in 2014, the woman left Bulawayo for South Africa to look for employment while she was four months pregnant.

“When she arrived, her father, who was resident in South Africa, took her to his home in Natalspruit. The woman retired to bed and was surprised to see her father locking the doors from inside and joining her in bed,” he said.

“He then raped her once and went to work. The woman notified her cousin the following day but she could not help as she insisted that the accused was their father.”

Mr Mukura said sometime in January 2016, the woman was employed by a Pakistan national who fired her after six months on her father’s orders.

“She eventually went and worked for her father as a cashier. Sometime in June, the man instructed one of his workers to go to the bank granting himself an opportunity to be alone with his daughter. He then went into her room and raped her once,” said Mr Mukura.

He said during the same month, the man instructed his daughter to go and wash dishes in his room.

“The woman went into her father’s room and found no dirty dishes. As she was about to leave the room her father entered, undressed and raped her once. She decided to narrate her ordeal to one of her father’s workers as the two were now in a relationship,” said Mr Mukura.

“The fourth incident occurred when the man’s wife (victim’s stepmother) had just travelled to South Africa. He told his daughter that he wanted to show her around Johannesburg and she accepted.”

They went to a lodge and at that time, her stepmother had not joined them.

“The man paid R200 and got keys to a room before dragging his daughter to the room. He locked her inside and took a bath before asking her to do the same. The woman refused saying she was even on her menstrual period but her father turned a deaf ear and raped her several times the whole night.

“In the morning, she was forced to wear a used sanitary pad and they went away. On November 8, the woman’s daughter was taken to South Africa and her father secretly took her to his home,” said Mr Mukura.

“She went to her father’s home fearing that he would rape her daughter. Upon arrival she took her child while questioning why her father had taken her without her knowledge. At that moment he pushed her onto the bed and raped her while the child was crying.”

The matter came to light when the woman notified her uncle.

“Her uncle asked her to come back to Zimbabwe and upon arrival they made a report at ZRP Waterfalls in Harare. The matter was referred to Bulawayo when the family got wind that the man was in Sizinda,” said Mr Mukura. – state media