Rapist landlord loses appeal

THE High Court has dismissed an appeal against conviction and sentence by a jailed Bulawayo landlord's son who raped their tenant's two daughters on six different occasions 10 years ago.

Shawn Mpofu (29) of North End suburb raped the two victims, aged 10 and 11 years at the time, on different occasions in September 2008.

Mpofu was in 2008 convicted of six counts of rape. He was sentenced to 33 years in jail of which 13 years were conditionally suspended for five years.

Mpofu, through his lawyers, Shenje and Company Legal Practitioners, filed an appeal at the Bulawayo High Court challenging his conviction and sentence, citing the State as the respondent.

He said there was misdirection on the part of the trial magistrate, arguing that he convicted him without properly investigating the reasons for the delay by the two complainants in making a police report.

Mpofu, who was aged 19 years at the time of conviction, said the sentence imposed by the lower court induces a sense of shock on a juvenile offender.

"The court a quo erred in imposing a heavy sentence on a young offender without taking into account the fact that the appellant had committed the offence while below the age of 18 years. Wherefore, the appellant prays that his conviction be quashed and sentence set aside or in the event that the court of appeal upholds his conviction, it reduces his sentence by blending it with mercy," argued Mpofu's lawyers.

Mpofu, in his grounds of appeal, said the regional magistrate, Mr Collen Ncube, largely relied on a medical report which was irrelevant in the circumstances.

"All the counts of rape surfaced when one of the complainants had sexually abused a seven –year-old boy. A medical examination was then conducted on the complainant to establish that sexual abuse," he argued. In her ruling, Justice Nokuthula Moyo said the issues raised by Mpofu were non-existent.

"The appellant lured the young girls into having consensual sex with them. The girls were young and vulnerable and the appellant abused his position of being the landlord's son where these two girls lived. The appellant was not falsely incriminated and therefore the conviction is unassailable and it is confirmed. The appeal against sentence fails," ruled the judge.

The State, which was represented by Mr Thompson Hove, opposed the appeal, arguing that the complainants' testimonies were credible.

"It is submitted that the sentence imposed by the trial court is proper in the circumstances. An effective 20-year imprisonment for six counts of rape cannot be said to be excessive so as to induce a sense of shock and the respondent prays for the appeal to be dismissed in its entirety," he said

According to the court papers, sometime in September 2008, Mpofu asked one of the complainants to open the door for him during which she broke the door handle.

The court heard that Mpofu then demanded to have sex with the girl failure of which he would report her to his father for destroying the door handle. Out of fear, the girl complied with Mpofu's orders. He took the girl to the lounge where he engaged in sex with her.

On a different day during the same month, Mpofu invited the girl to his room where he raped her at knifepoint. He repeated the act on two other different occasions.

During the same month, Mpofu spotted the other complainant's sister at the house and he invited her to his room on the pretext that he wanted to give her a mealie cob. The girl complied and on entering the room, Mpofu ordered her to lie on the carpet before he raped her.

On September 27, one of the complainants sexually abused a seven-year-old boy who stays at the same house. The girl's grandmother quizzed her during which the complainant revealed that she had also been sexually abused by Mpofu. A report was made to the police leading to Mpofu's arrest.