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Mathew Masinge
JAILED former nightclub manager, Ronald Ngwenya, has launched a bid for freedom on the grounds that the claims made by his accuser, a 13-year-old schoolgirl, were pregnant with contradictions.
Ngwenya was sentenced to 12 years for aggravated indecent assault of his teenage niece in July.
An affidavit presented during trial proved that Ngwenya had sexually abused the teenager who he had taken care of since she was in Grade One.
Magistrate Fadzai Mtombeni acquitted him of two rape charges, but convicted him of the aggravated indecent assault charge and handed him a custodial sentence.
His appeal is set to be heard on November 1.
The State has said that it is not opposed to the appeal before Justices Benjamin Chikowero and Happias Zhou.
Ngwenya claims the magistrate misdirected herself in convicting and sentencing him while the complainant led contradictory evidence on the identity of the person who abused her.
“The inconsistency cast doubt on the credibility of the complainant.
“She was unable to reconcile her two statements and no re-examination was done by the prosecutor in the court a quo, for the complainant to explain her discrepancy on the issue of visibility which touched on the identification of the accused person.
“There is doubt on whether the complainant was able to identify the accused person,” reads Ngwenya’s papers.
He is also arguing that during his trial, it was agreed that there were six other people in the house whose testimonies should be revisited.
“There were three males, including accused person, in the house on the night in question. Considering the lighting conditions, any of the those male persons could have entered complainant’s room and abused her.
“It is clear from the above that since the room was dark, she could not identify the accused.
“She only managed to identify the accused person because he said something while in the passage.”
Ngwenya is appealing against both conviction and sentence.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter