News / Local
'Zim courts won't tolerate sodomy,' says Magistrate
14 Jun 2014 at 07:28hrs | Views
A 19-YEAR-OLD Bulawayo man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for sodomy.
Nkosentsha Ndlovu from Lobengula, who was being charged with indecent assault, pleaded not guilty to the charge following his appearance in court for abusing a 12-year-old boy in a school toilet.
In passing sentence, regional magistrate Crispen James Mberewere said the courts also served to express society's indignation to acts of sodomy or same sex relationships.
"The Zimbabwean society views acts of sodomy as an abomination and is highly rooted in Christian beliefs. This court also bemoans the high prevalence of child sexual abuse cases in the country thus we should send a message to all perpetrators," he said.
Mberewere sentenced Ndlovu to 10 years in jail and suspended three years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence.
He said Ndlovu's upbringing could have contributed to his behaviour as he lacked parental love.
"It is very important for one to get parental love from both parents. You indicated that your father went to the United Kingdom when you were very young and you did not stay with him and that your mother's whereabouts are not known.
"However sad it may be, the court does not condone such behaviour and a custodial sentence is appropriate in this case," said the magistrate.
Prosecuting, Trust Mudume told the court that on June 11 last year at around 11AM, the minor went into the boys' toilet at Mawaba Primary School in Lobengula to relieve himself.
Ndlovu and an unknown friend entered the toilet and closed the boy's mouth.
"They forced him to bend down, removed his shorts and underwear before Ndlovu sodomised him. After the act, Ndlovu threatened the juvenile with a knife if he told anyone about the incident," said Mudume.
The schoolboy went back to class but did not tell his teacher as he had been threatened.
The issue only came to light after three days when the pupil's mother noticed that he had been unusually quiet after coming back from school and always complained of stomach pains.
When quizzed, he opened up to his mother who later made a report to the police.
The boy told the police that he knew the person who had sodomised him as he often saw him accompanying a Grade Zero pupil to school in the morning.
Ndlovu and a friend Nkosiphile Phiri, who accompanied the Grade Zero pupil to school, were both arrested. The boy later picked out Ndlovu as the man who sodomised him during an identification parade conducted at Magwegwe Police Station.
The boy told the court that he was positive it was Ndlovu who had abused him in the toilet because he often saw him sitting with friends at a bridge near the school gate.
"I only collect the boy from school in the afternoon and I am not the one who did it, it must be a case of mistaken identity," insisted Ndlovu in his defence.
Nkosentsha Ndlovu from Lobengula, who was being charged with indecent assault, pleaded not guilty to the charge following his appearance in court for abusing a 12-year-old boy in a school toilet.
In passing sentence, regional magistrate Crispen James Mberewere said the courts also served to express society's indignation to acts of sodomy or same sex relationships.
"The Zimbabwean society views acts of sodomy as an abomination and is highly rooted in Christian beliefs. This court also bemoans the high prevalence of child sexual abuse cases in the country thus we should send a message to all perpetrators," he said.
Mberewere sentenced Ndlovu to 10 years in jail and suspended three years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence.
He said Ndlovu's upbringing could have contributed to his behaviour as he lacked parental love.
"It is very important for one to get parental love from both parents. You indicated that your father went to the United Kingdom when you were very young and you did not stay with him and that your mother's whereabouts are not known.
"However sad it may be, the court does not condone such behaviour and a custodial sentence is appropriate in this case," said the magistrate.
Prosecuting, Trust Mudume told the court that on June 11 last year at around 11AM, the minor went into the boys' toilet at Mawaba Primary School in Lobengula to relieve himself.
Ndlovu and an unknown friend entered the toilet and closed the boy's mouth.
"They forced him to bend down, removed his shorts and underwear before Ndlovu sodomised him. After the act, Ndlovu threatened the juvenile with a knife if he told anyone about the incident," said Mudume.
The schoolboy went back to class but did not tell his teacher as he had been threatened.
The issue only came to light after three days when the pupil's mother noticed that he had been unusually quiet after coming back from school and always complained of stomach pains.
When quizzed, he opened up to his mother who later made a report to the police.
The boy told the police that he knew the person who had sodomised him as he often saw him accompanying a Grade Zero pupil to school in the morning.
Ndlovu and a friend Nkosiphile Phiri, who accompanied the Grade Zero pupil to school, were both arrested. The boy later picked out Ndlovu as the man who sodomised him during an identification parade conducted at Magwegwe Police Station.
The boy told the court that he was positive it was Ndlovu who had abused him in the toilet because he often saw him sitting with friends at a bridge near the school gate.
"I only collect the boy from school in the afternoon and I am not the one who did it, it must be a case of mistaken identity," insisted Ndlovu in his defence.
Source - chronicle
