Maid arrested over alleged sexual abuse of 5-year-old boy in Ruwa
A 25-year-old maid has been arrested in Ruwa after she was accused of sexually abusing a 5-year-old boy at the house where he lived.
Memory Munyakwe is facing a charge of aggravated indecent assault arising from an incident at Phase 14, Eastview, Ruwa, last Wednesday. She was employed as a maid at the house, where the boy lived with members of his family.
The State alleges that the child went to the toilet at about 9am to relieve himself while Munyakwe was taking a bath. After he had finished, she allegedly indecently touched him before making sexual contact with him.
The boy later returned to his bedroom and told his grandmother what had happened. A report was made at ZRP Ruwa on Monday, after which Munyakwe was arrested. The child was medically examined following the report.
The case has placed renewed attention on the risks faced by children in homes where domestic workers are entrusted with their care. In many households, maids are given access to bedrooms, bathrooms and other private areas, and may spend long periods around children while parents and guardians are at work or away from home.
The Ruwa case is not the only recent matter in which a domestic worker has been accused of sexually abusing a boy in Zimbabwe. In a separate case heard in Harare, Elson Tembo appeared before regional magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa charged with raping his 15-year-old girlfriend at a Mabelreign guest lodge.
The State alleges that the teenager travelled to Mabelreign, Harare, in December last year to spend the holidays with her aunt. On an unspecified day, she allegedly met Tembo while walking to the shops to buy bread. The two exchanged contact details and later became romantically involved.
Tembo allegedly invited the teenager to his workplace. They later met along Harare Drive and boarded a kombi to Mabelreign shops. The court heard that Tembo bought her Doritos and a Revive drink before the pair walked to a guest lodge along 2nd Avenue, where he was allegedly staying.
The State alleges that Tembo collected a room key from reception and entered the room with the teenager. After eating the snacks, she reportedly developed a headache and told him that she was feeling unwell. He allegedly went to get her a glass of water, after which she became dizzy and lost consciousness.
Prosecutors allege that Tembo took advantage of her condition and had unprotected sexual intercourse with her without her consent. When she regained consciousness, the teenager allegedly noticed that some of her clothes had been removed or lowered. She questioned Tembo about what had happened.
She later left the lodge and began experiencing pain in her back and lower abdomen. The State alleges that she contacted Tembo seeking an explanation, but he shouted at her and told her that he was not a prophet.
The teenager initially did not tell anyone about the alleged incident. She later returned to Bulawayo. After missing her menstrual periods for two months, she contacted Tembo because she suspected that she had fallen pregnant as a result of the alleged rape.
Tembo allegedly responded by shouting at her and accusing her of being a prostitute who wanted to waste his money. She then told her aunt, who informed her parents. A police report was subsequently made in Mabelreign, and the teenager was taken to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals for medical examination.
Police allegedly failed to locate Tembo and placed him on the wanted persons list. A radio message was later sent to ZRP Chivi after officers received information that he was working there. He was arrested on Tuesday.
Previous court cases have also involved domestic workers accused of abusing boys who were placed in their care. In April 2024, a 20-year-old maid from Senga suburb in Gweru was sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison after being convicted of two counts of aggravated indecent assault involving her employer’s 8-year-old son.
The abuse came to light after the boy visited his aunt in Kwekwe. During a visit to the toilet, the aunt noticed that his urine was discoloured and contained blood stains. She took him to a local clinic, where tests showed that he had contracted a sexually transmitted infection. After being questioned, the boy disclosed that Nyathi had been abusing him.
In mitigation, Nyathi pleaded with the court to impose a lesser sentence, saying she had been driven by a desire to quench her appetite for lula lula. The prosecutor called for a stiffer penalty, saying the child had been vulnerable and that the abuse had breached the trust placed in Nyathi by her employers.
“The accused took advantage of the minor’s vulnerability and, in an aggravating manner, indecently assaulted him. By engaging in unlawful and intentional unprotected sexual intercourse with an eight-year-old minor, the accused not only breached the trust placed in her by her employers, but also abused her authority in the most despicable manner,” the prosecutor said.
The court also heard that the boy had been placed at risk of contracting other diseases after the alleged abuse. The sentence followed the child’s disclosure to his aunt and the subsequent police report by his family.
An earlier case in the Midlands involved Steward Kere, a 23-year-old domestic worker from Mapanzure village. A Gweru regional magistrate sentenced him to 15 years after he was convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old primary school boy. The effective sentence was 12 years after three years were suspended for five years on condition that he did not commit a similar offence.
Kere had initially faced 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault after children from a neighbouring village accused him of sodomising them from February 2013. Ten of the counts were dismissed because of a lack of evidence, leaving the conviction connected to the 11-year-old boy.
Passing sentence, magistrate Morgan Nemadire said: “The accused failed to honour the trust bestowed on him by the community he was living in. He sexually assaulted a child who is more than 10 years his junior and it’s saddening to note that probably for the rest of his life, the minor will be traumatised.”
The cases in Ruwa, Harare, Gweru and Mapanzure have each followed disclosures by children or relatives, medical examinations and police reports. In the Ruwa matter, the 5-year-old boy told his grandmother soon after the alleged incident, leading to the report at ZRP Ruwa several days later.
Munyakwe’s arrest means that investigators are now expected to follow up on the child’s account and the results of the medical examination. The matter remains before the courts, while the separate proceedings involving Tembo continue in Harare.