A NEIGHBOURHOOD watch committee member who forced himself on a 12-year-old girl on several occasions resulting in her falling pregnant has been sentenced to 15 years in jail.
PERPETUAL PHIRI OWN CORRESPONDENT
Thobisa Ncube (54) of Zhukwa West village under Chief Masuku in Gwanda had pleaded not guilty to six counts of rape when he appeared before Gwanda regional magistrate Joseph Mabeza, but was found guilty on all counts.
Ncube was sentenced to 10 years for counts one and two, 10 years for counts three and four, and 10 years for counts five and six. He will, however, serve counts one to four concurrently and 10 years for counts five and six, of which five years were suspended for five years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within that period.
Regional prosecutor Johannes Tlou told the court that Ncube started raping the girl when she was 12 years old.
The court heard that Ncube sexually assaulted the girl on different occasions between November and December 2012, but she remained silent after Ncube had threatened her with death.
Ncube would sometimes abuse the girl when he encountered her on her way from school.
The girl fell pregnant in December 2012 and Ncube advised her to drink a cup of tea with lots of tea leaves to terminate the pregnancy, but she refused.
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Ncube again sexually assaulted the girl sometime in January 2013 and then told her to blame her boyfriend for the pregnancy.
The girl only revealed the abuse after some village women discovered that she was pregnant, leading to Ncube’s.
Mc Allister Ncube of Mabhikwa, Hikwa and Nyathi legal practitioners who represented Ncube, pleaded with the magistrate in mitigation for leniency to allow him to reform.
“Your worship, I plead with you to give Ncube a sentence that will make him reflect on his mistakes and reform.
“He is a breadwinner with seven children, the complainant’s child being the eighth, so your worship be merciful and give him a sentence that will not tear apart his family.
“Thus my suggestion is that a sentence of 12 years will be enough with a suspension of four years and treat each count with a two-year sentence,” said the lawyer.
However, Tlou argued that Ncube was facing too many counts of the same charge making it a serious offence.
“Your worship, the number of counts makes this offence serious. Ncube did not commit the offence on the same day, but on six different occasions and the age difference between Ncube and the girl is 41 years which shows that Ncube qualifies to be the girl’s grandfather,” said Tlou.
He also urged the court to consider that the girl had a child at the age of 12, making it a serious offence.
“It is the State’s submission that this offence calls for heavy penalties and Ncube is not just an ordinary person, but a neighbourhood watch member and has worked with people of the law for a decade now so he should be leading by example.
“Therefore, a 50-year sentence will be fair for him and if deciding to be merciful, then 20 years imprisonment will do,” argued Tlou.
In passing sentence, Mabeza said he put Ncube’s age into account and the age difference as well as the fact that Ncube started raping the girl when she was 12 years old.
