News / National
Black empowerment activist sentenced to life in prison
20 Feb 2014 at 08:55hrs | Views
Former black empowerment activist Sonny Chasi (74) has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife in 2012.
Chasi was saved from the gallows by the constitutional stipulation that a person over the age of 70 cannot be sentenced to death.
Justice Martin Makonese at the Bulawayo High Court found Chasi (74) guilty of murder with actual intent.
He also found him guilty of six counts of raping his teen daughter and sentenced him to 20 years, to run concurrently with the life sentence.
Justice Makonese said he found no extenuating circumstances for the crimes Chasi Committed.
He said the callous premeditated murder of his wife Dorcas Majola (44) on 15 November 2012 deserved the toughest sentence available to the court.
Chasi found his wife seven months pregnant when he was released on a home visit from Conemara open prison.
He forcibly took her for an HIV test.
He then took her to an unknown location where he assaulted her until she became unconscious.
He then carried her to the intersection of Lawley Road and 4th Street in Suburbs and proceeded to make a false report to the police claiming they had been attacked by four men who assaulted them.
Strangely, Chasi was not hurt.
Majola died on admission to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).
The post-mortem report showed Majola suffered a ruptured placenta, depressed skull and brain damage and also lost her baby weighing 2,9kg.
After his arrest for the murder, the ensuing court case led to the discovery of the rape.
For the rape, Justice Makonese divided the six charges into two of three charges each.
He sentenced Chasi to 10years for each of the two counts.
Chasi raped the girl on six occasions at his two houses in Richmond and Waterford-and made her bath in his semen after telling her he was performing ritual practices in terms of their culture so that the family could become rich.
Chasi had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Normally an elegant dresser, Chasi looked unmoved as he was led away from the dock dressed in unflattering prison garb.
Chasi was saved from the gallows by the constitutional stipulation that a person over the age of 70 cannot be sentenced to death.
Justice Martin Makonese at the Bulawayo High Court found Chasi (74) guilty of murder with actual intent.
He also found him guilty of six counts of raping his teen daughter and sentenced him to 20 years, to run concurrently with the life sentence.
Justice Makonese said he found no extenuating circumstances for the crimes Chasi Committed.
He said the callous premeditated murder of his wife Dorcas Majola (44) on 15 November 2012 deserved the toughest sentence available to the court.
Chasi found his wife seven months pregnant when he was released on a home visit from Conemara open prison.
He forcibly took her for an HIV test.
He then took her to an unknown location where he assaulted her until she became unconscious.
He then carried her to the intersection of Lawley Road and 4th Street in Suburbs and proceeded to make a false report to the police claiming they had been attacked by four men who assaulted them.
Strangely, Chasi was not hurt.
Majola died on admission to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).
The post-mortem report showed Majola suffered a ruptured placenta, depressed skull and brain damage and also lost her baby weighing 2,9kg.
After his arrest for the murder, the ensuing court case led to the discovery of the rape.
For the rape, Justice Makonese divided the six charges into two of three charges each.
He sentenced Chasi to 10years for each of the two counts.
Chasi raped the girl on six occasions at his two houses in Richmond and Waterford-and made her bath in his semen after telling her he was performing ritual practices in terms of their culture so that the family could become rich.
Chasi had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Normally an elegant dresser, Chasi looked unmoved as he was led away from the dock dressed in unflattering prison garb.
Source - Byo24News
