Fugitive sodomite arrested after police station visit

AN unrepentant teenager from Kamativi who had evaded the police for three years after sodomising his girlfriend's nine-year-old daughter was arrested on Christmas Day when he went to a police station to report a case of assault.

Gift Mwinde, now aged 19 and residing at Number C5 Kamativi Compound in Hwange District disappeared in 2015 after breaking into his girlfriend's house through a bedroom window and sodomised her juvenile daughter.

Mwinde was 15 when he committed the crime and the girl is now 12. Her mother's age was not given.

Mwinde visited his home area in Kamativi on Tuesday to celebrate Christmas Day.

He had a misunderstanding with James Chuma over a memory card and the latter struck him at the back of the head with an axe.Badly injured, Mwinde staggered to Kamativi Police Station to file an assault case against Chuma but alert cops arrested him over pending charges of unlawful entry and indecent assault committed in 2015.

Mwinde pleaded guilty to unlawful entry and indecent assault when he appeared before Hwange magistrate Ms Barbara Phiri yesterday. He told the court that he entered the bedroom because he had an appointment with the complainant's mother but found her not at home. The magistrate sentenced Mwinde to a combined 24 months in jail and suspended two months for five years on condition of good behaviour.

Despite the previous cases, the magistrate said Mwinde has an opportunity to reform as a youth hence a shorter jail term. The assault case against Chuma is yet to go to court. Prosecuting, Ms Loness Maseko said Mwinde is a repeat offender who had been convicted twice for theft, once for assault and once for rape, all in 2015.

At that time, passing of sentence was postponed for five years on the theft and assault cases because Mwinde was still a juvenile. He was given four strokes with a rattan cane for the case of rape. Mwinde also has other pending charges of unlawful entry and theft which he committed in July 2015 when he allegedly stole a purse with $80.

"On Christmas Day in 2015 and at 11pm, Mwinde went to the complainant's place of residence and entered the bedroom through a broken window. Inside the complainant and other children were sleeping in the absence of their mother. The girl was awakened by Mwinde who had started removing her panties," said Ms Maseko.

The prosecutor said the girl screamed as she turned to check who it was but Mwinde threatened to assault her.

The complainant complied and looked aside out of fear.

Mwinde had just inserted his manhood on the girl's back when he heard her mother's voice with some neighbours approaching.

He jumped and bolted out through the window.

The girl narrated her ordeal to her mother who made a report to the police. Mwinde fled from Kamativi. Police arrested him on Christmas Day when he showed up as an assault victim.