Ellen Mlambo
TWO NATIONS REPORTER
BEITBRIDGE- Police in Beitbridge have arrested Misheck Gara (26) an immigration officer for allegedly raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter over a two-year period, Officer Commanding Beitbridge Chief Superintendent Tichaona Nyongo has said.
Nyongo said Misheck Gara (26) was intercepted by detectives on Sunday as he boarded a cross border bus in the border town.
The matter is at Beitbridge Urban ZRP under case number CR 127/10/22.
Allegations are that Gara had been raping the minor (name withheld) since 2019 and the matter was only revealed last week after a tip-off was made to Child Line Services.
Sources who spoke to Two Nations alleged that Gara raped the minor in April 2019 and in August 2019 and sometime in 2020.
On the first count, the minor’s mother left her at home alone as she went to attend to some business. Gara arrived home and found the minor in her room. He asked her to help him remove his work uniform badges. He then caressed her breasts and inserted his finger into her private part before raping her. He ordered her not to reveal the ordeal to anyone.
In August, 2019, at around 9 am, the minor fell ill and did not go to school. Her mother left her in the company of Gara who then allegedly called her into a bedroom he was sleeping in, caressed her breasts and raped her.
Sometime in 2020 at around 2pm, the complainant’s mother went to Mangava Shopping Centre leaving the minor and Gara together. The minor asked Gara to assist her with her homework and he began caressing her. The minor’s mother suddenly returned and found Gara caressing her daughter. She did not file a Police report.
A tip off was made to through Child Line by Beitbridge Social Welfare on October 14, 2022, and a Police report was filed at Beitbridge ZRP urban.
The minor was referred to Beitbridge Hospital for medical examination.
Gara disappeared only to be nabbed by detectives who were manning the bus terminal at the border post as he embarked into a Delta Coaches bus.