Danisa Masuku
A Bulawayo man from Cowdray Park who brandished a knife and placed it on the 13-year-old boy’s throat before dragging the boy into a thicket where he sodomised him has been slapped with a 20-year jail sentence.
Edmore Ndlovu (35) appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga facing an aggravated indecent assault charge and pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In his defence, he said: “I did not sexually attack him. I only rubbed my angry manhood against his thighs and ejaculated.” However, at the end of the trial on Wednesday, the magistrate found him guilty and sentenced him to effectively serve 20 years behind bars.
Passing the sentence, the magistrate said Ndlovu was a danger to society as he used a dangerous weapon to commit the crime. She said that placing the knife on the boy’s throat and sexually attacking him left the boy and his parents traumatised and depressed.
The court noted that the age difference between the convict and the victim was huge and the offence was premeditated as he confronted the boy clutching a knife and threatening to kill him if he ran away. The court also noted that he walked for 45 minutes with the boy into the thicket.
The court heard that last Thursday, Ndlovu ambushed the boy who was coming from school and placed a knife on his throat before ordering him to walk along a footpath to a bush. After sexually abusing him, he detained him in the bush for two hours and freed him at around 6 pm. The petrified boy headed to his home and narrated the ordeal to his parents. The incident was reported to the police leading to the arrest of Ndlovu.



