A 72-year-old man jailed for raping his 94-year-old mother

In a bizarre incident that has left villagers in Dete shell-shocked, a 72-year-old man was convicted for raping his 94-year-old mother.

Naison Zulu of Stand number 49 Mtuya township in Dete was found guilty of contravening section 65 of Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act chapter 9:23 rape, when he appeared before Regional Magistrate Mrs Dambudzo Malunga.

According to the State led by Miss Memory Munsaka, on 7 July 2011 at around 10 pm Zulu gained entry into his mother, Alice Dube’s bedroom hut while she slept.

He got into her blankets and lay on top of her.

Dube woke up and asked him what he was doing, whereupon Zulu used one hand to cover her mouth while the other forced her legs apart.

He proceeded to rape her once. She managed to cry out for help and a neighbour came to her rescue finding Zulu still in the bedroom.

In his defence, Zulu who is the first born in the family denied raping his mother saying he was awakened by her shouts.

He said he responded from his hut by asking what the matter was but received no answer. It was only later that he decided to investigate but after hearing his calling from the neighbour’s house he returned to sleep.

After 20 minutes he claimed two men began to assault him after he responded to their knock, accusing him of raping his mother.

However, during cross-examination Zulu shifted goalposts arguing that he delayed in responding to his mother’s shouts for help because he got angry that she had called out to her neighbour instead of him.

The State however proved beyond reasonable doubt that Zulu had indeed raped his mother.

He was slapped with a 15-year prison term.