The father of the 9-year-old Tsholotsho girl who recently gave birth at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), has been released from prison.
The 29-year-old was arrested on 29 August 2022 when it was discovered that his daughter was pregnant.
He was accused of raping and impregnating her after she allegedly told social workers that her father told her that “goblins will visit her at night and insert something in her private parts.”
He has been languishing in remand prison since his arrest.
However, DNA tests conducted by the National University of Science and Technology revealed on 25 November that he was not the father.
The results said the girl’s 13-year-old cousin had impregnated her.
The father wept in the dock after Prosecutor Mr Acumen Khuphe announced that he was a free man. He said:
The state has decided to set you free since the DNA results have proven that you are not the father of your daughter’s child.
In his ruling, Bulawayo regional magistrate Mark Dzira said the court has no reason to hold him as the recent DNA results from NUST exonerated him.