A 40-year old Zvimba pre-school teacher who raped a four-year-old girl in his office, has been jailed nine-years.
The High Court threw out Kufa Benedict Mafuwa’s appeal against conviction, saying the regional magistrate who convicted him had not in any way misdirected him/herself on the issue of sentence.
Judges of Appeal, Justices Charles Hungwe and Edith Mushore dismissed the accused’s appeal. Mafuwa was a teacher at Masiyarwa Primary School where the complainant was a pre-school pupil.
The court heard on February 6 last year, Mafuwa saw the girl playing on a swing with other children and he invited her to his office where he raped her once and threatened to cut off her head with a knife if she reported the matter.
After the rape the girl went home and told her mother that she was in pain but was reluctant to identify her assailant out of fear. However, after her mother lied to her that the perpetrator had been arrested and his head cut off, she then freely identified Mafuwa as the culprit.
Mafuwa was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment but three years were suspended on condition of good behaviour. — CHARLES LAITON
