Online Reporter
Mathew Masinge
A Binga medical doctor is on the run after his appeal against conviction and a 15-year jail sentence for raping his 13-year-old patient was dismissed.
Dr Jabulani Dube is now regarded as a fugitive from justice after the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) failed to surrender him during a High Court hearing.
He was convicted for raping the teenager who was suffering from seizures and had been brought to his surgery at Binga Centre in February last year.
Upon examining the teenager, Dr Dube forced himself on the teenager, she felt excruciating pain and stormed out of the consultation room screaming.
The complainant later confided the rape in her aunt saying she saw Dr Dube zipping his trousers after the act.
In his appeal, Dr Dube claimed that he had only poked deep into the girl using a metal instrument while pleading ignorance about the sacredness and purity of maidenhood.
However, Justice Munamato Mutevedzi and Naison Chivayo , who heard the appeal found out that the trial magistrate had correctly convicted and sentenced the medical doctor.
“The complainant was only 13 years old at the time of the rape. The trial magistrate correctly found it aggravating.
“In the end, with the presence of more than one aggravating factor as shown, Dr Dube ought to have counted himself lucky to have gotten away with the barest minimum.
“The appeal against sentence was completely hopeless,” ruled Justice Mutevedzi.
Justice Mutevedzi urged Dr Dube’s lawyer to surrender his client in order for him to serve his sentence.
“He is in clear contempt of the courts from which he seeks redress because at the last count, the return from the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services showed that the appellant was a fugitive from justice unless if that return was not correct.
“He neglected his duty to advise the appellant to surrender himself to the authorities to serve his sentence,” reads the judgement.
