UNITED KINGDOM – TWO Zimbabwean twins have been jailed for a combined 29 years in England for raping an 11-year-old girl over several months.

Steven and Stanley Muchemwa, aged 31, had been left in the care of the girl when they began systematic abuse of the child, the Bolton Crown Court heard.

Steven, the court heard, started the abuse before Stanley, who had seen what his brother was doing, also began sexually assaulting her, telling the girl at one time: “I’m teaching you what to do when you’ve a boyfriend.”

Steven, who initially pleaded not guilty before changing his plea, was locked away for 14 years while his brother Stanley, who maintained his innocence, was handed a 15-year sentence.

The offences occurred at the twins’ home in Dunsop Drive, Bolton, where both men raped her, usually in their shared bedroom and sometimes when other children were also sleeping in the same room.

During the course of the trial, the girl’s mother told Judge Graeme Smith that her world had “come crashing down around her” when she heard what had been happening.

The girl’s mother said she was “completely shocked” after her daughter revealed the ordeal to the head teacher at her school and “devastated” that she had trusted the men to take care of her.

She went on to say that there had been a “massive change” in the girl’s personality since the incidents, saying she had become “clingy” and was not sleeping well due to bad dreams.

The United Kingdom court heard that Steven first started touching the girl early in 2016 when she was just 10 years old, while the pair would go on to rape her in the school summer holidays after she had turned 11.

Giving evidence during the trial, the girl said that, when Steven first raped her, his brother Stanley had walked into the room while it was happening but had taken no action to stop it.

Both men had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, although Steven would go on to change his plea to guilty before the trial began.

Prosecuting, Kathryn Johnson, said: “Stanley had seen what his brother was doing. It was following that that Stanley started to rape her.”

Adding: “He would tell her he was teaching her what to do for when she had a boyfriend.”

Johnson went on to say that Stanley had told the girl she would get into trouble if she told anyone about what had been happening.

She told her head teacher in October 2016, in what Judge Smith described as a “brave decision”.

Johnson recounted what the teacher found, saying the girl was in an “extremely distressed state” when she began to explain her experiences.

She added: “Initially she wouldn’t explain why she was so upset. She told the headteacher she had been abused.

“Police and social services attended and spoke to her and her mother was contacted.”

Following a trial earlier this year, Stanley was found guilty of one count of sexual assault of a child under 13 and four counts of rape of a child under 13.

His brother Steven was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault and seven counts of rape, both of a girl under 13.

He was also found guilty of one count of assault on a female, and a further count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.