Recently, two Botswana Defence Force (BDF) soldiers from Area S military garrison appeared in court on charges of raping their respective stepdaughters, with one convicted and awaiting sentence while the other is still being tried. In a similar matter, a 35-year-old man of Shashemooke village was last week convicted by Senior Magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalu of raping his then 12-year-old stepchild in July last year in Shashemooke.
Passing sentence, Mulalu said there was overwhelming evidence to convict the accused-who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim. Mulalu said during that fateful night, when the accused raped his partner’s daughter, he was sleeping with the victim and her siblings in the same room while their mother was at work. Mulalu said the complainant was awoken by the accused who was busy penetrating her. The magistrate said the complainant escaped outside the house and tried to alert her neighbours about her ordeal, but was prevented from doing so by the accused who took her back inside the house and ordered her to sleep.
