Online Reporter
Fairness Moyana in Hwange
A 36-year-old Hwange herdman has been sentenced to an effective seven years in prison after pleading guilty to the repeated indecent assault of two young girls.
The court heard the assaults, which included unlawful entry into a child’s bedroom at night, took place over three consecutive days in the Lubangwe area.
Cosmas Ncube was convicted on seven counts when he appeared before Provincial Magistrate Ms Rumbidzai Kabasa at the Hwange Magistrates’ Court.
Prosecutor Miss Pride Mharadza told the court that Ncube targeted the two minors, aged 10 and 11, who lived at the homestead where he was employed as a herdman.
Ncube pleaded guilty to the charges, at times blaming alcohol for his actions, but the court dismissed this as an unacceptable excuse given the gravity of the offences and the vulnerability of the victims.
According to the State, the assaults occurred on September 29 and 30, and again on October 1, 2025, each time in the sitting room of the homestead where the girls would fetch water before going to school.
In multiple incidents, Ncube fondled the children’s buttocks and breasts, and on several occasions touched the older girl’s private parts.
The court heard that he targeted the first complainant on three separate occasions and the second complainant on three others, with the incidents occurring on September 29 and 30 and again on October 1.
On October 2, Ncube escalated the violations by unlawfully entering the first complainant’s bedroom without permission. Once inside, he insulted her in Ndebele, calling her “pig-headed,” an act the court said seriously undermined her dignity.
The magistrate described Ncube’s conduct as predatory and persistent, noting that he assaulted the complainants repeatedly over several days and even returned after earlier confrontations, showing “a disturbing level of defiance and disrespect for the complainants’ rights.”
For count one, Ncube was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, while counts two, four and six — all involving the second complainant — were treated as one for sentencing purposes, attracting two years. For count three, relating to the second assault on the first complainant, he received two more years, while count five also attracted a two-year term.
On count seven, the aggravated unlawful entry charge, the court imposed a two-year sentence. One year of this sentence was suspended on condition of good behaviour.
This left Ncube with seven effective years behind bars.
Kabasa said the sentence was necessary to send a strong message against gender-based violence, noting that alcohol could not excuse repeated, intentional violations.
