28 years sentence for raping minors

Zim Now News

A man from New Machuchuta Village, Tuli in Beitbridge, will spend almost three decades behind bars after he was sentenced to a cumulative 28 years for raping two minors.

Polite Mbedzi, 22, appeared in court on September 21, 2022, and was slapped with a 12-year-jail term for raping a minor whose age is not disclosed.

On January 16, Mbedzi was again at court, before regional magistrate Innocent Bepura, who sentenced him to 16 years for raping his 14-year-old niece.

Prosecuting, Claude Karinga said the 14-year-old minor was raped on three different occasions, with the first count occurring on November 28, 2019 when Mbedzi asked the girl to bring fire to his kitchen.

She took a shovel and put burning charcoal and proceeded to Mbedzi’s homestead where he reportedly pulled and pinned the minor to the ground before raping her while in the kitchen.

In another incident on December 1, 2019, Mbedzi followed the girl to a hill where she was gathering leaves to feed cattle and raped her without using protection.

While she was sleeping on the veranda near her cousin’s room on December 4, 2019, Mbedzi came and pushed her into her cousin’s room where he raped her.

She reported the matter to her grandmother and a police report was made, leading to Mbedzi’s arrest.