Opposition lawmaker for Glenview South, Happymore Chidziva who was accused of raping his wife's 16 year old relative has been acquitted.
Chidziva, also known as Bvondo, was accused of sexually abusing the minor on three occasions, twice at a local hotel and at a lodge in Waterfalls.
Prosecutors alleged that the legislator sweet-talked the girl into believing that he would secure employment for her before raping her.
At one time, he allegedly told the girl that he would secure employment for her abroad and "change her life."
However, Harare Magistrate Letwin Rwodzi cleared Chidziva of wrongdoing after a full trial, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove its case.
The magistrate also said the state failed to prove that Chidziva ever tried to secure employment for the minor.
The NPA was alleging that sometime in April 2024, Chidziva called the complainant and asked her to meet at Zanu PF Headquarters traffic lights, where he picked her up.
It was alleged that the MP told the girl that his car had broken down and drove her to a hotel in Harare CBD, where he asked her for sex.
The girl allegedly refused and told Chidziva that she was not ready.
The state alleged that Chidziva however took the girl to a room where he raped her without protection before giving her US$25.
The prosecution said after the alleged rape, the MP hired a taxi before he disembarked at a service station along Willowvale Road while the complainant proceeded to Glen View.
"The following morning the accused person sent a message instructing her to buy some morning-after pills with the money he gave her, and her cousin was holding her phone and she saw the message," the MP's trial was told.
"The complainant then told her cousin that she slept with the accused person and he was telling her to buy morning-after pills."
It was alleged that sometime in July 2024, the complainant told her aunt that Chidziva had found a job for her in Marimba as a domestic worker.
On that same day, it was alleged that Chidziva took the girl to a guesthouse in Waterfalls where he raped her again.
After the abuse, the teen did not return home but went to stay in Ushewokunze with her friend and her parents.
It was further alleged that on August 9, 2024, around 5PM, the MP called the teenager whilst she was in town and asked her to meet him at Cresta Lodge in Masasa.
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"The complainant then hired a taxi to Cresta Lodge, where she met the accused person. They then went into a room and the accused person then went out and returned at around midnight.
"The accused person asked her to have sexual intercourse with him, and she refused and told him that she was tired."
Prosecutors alleged Chidziva then pleaded with the teen, promising her a job outside Zimbabwe and she complied.
The 16-year-old then returned to Ushewokunze, where she was chased away by her friend's mother because she had not slept at home the previous night.
The court heard that she then went and stayed with her cousin in Budiriro 1, but her aunt had already filed a missing person's report at Budiriro Police Station.
She later presented herself to the police, where she narrated her ordeal leading to Chidziva's arrest.
