Headmaster’s jail term quashed

sexually abusing a pupil, was yesterday acquitted by the High Court.
Mr Makomeke had challenged both his conviction and sentence on the grounds of strong prospects of success on appeal. Justice Yunus Omerjee, sitting with Justice Joseph Musakwa quashed the magistrate court’s decision after finding that the headmaster had been wrongly convicted.
A spirited argument by defence lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu, who took over the case on appeal, convinced the High Court that the decision by regional magistrate Mr Peter Kumbawa was wrongly arrived at.
Principal law officer Mr Fungayi Nyahunzvi of the Attorney General’s Office appeared for the State.
Justice Omerjee found that Mr Kumbawa erred in various respects in finding Mr Makomeke guilty of aggravated indecent assault. The latest development automatically set aside the 10-year prison term. Allegations were that on December 5, 2009 around 5pm, the headmaster who was driving his car spotted the student loitering at Machipisa Shopping Centre.
It was the State’s case that Mr Makomeke asked the girl what she was doing before ordering her into the car ostensibly to take her to her parents.
Along the way, the court heard, Mr Makomeke later took the girl to his office where he inserted his fingers thrice into the girl’s private parts. He finally took the girl to her parents’ place, the court heard.
In his defence, Mr Makomeke denied ever sexually abusing the girl saying he only wanted to assist the girl who was up to mischief at the shopping centre.
He said the girl knew she was misbehaving and as a way of covering up for her case, she framed the indecent assault charges. The court also heard that when the headmaster wanted to drive the girl home, she on two occasions wrongly directed him to her friends’ places because she feared her parents.