Moffat Mungazi
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
A LAWYER and a public prosecutor in Chipinge, are facing charges of allegedly altering a 13-year-old rape survivor’s statement in order to reduce the severity of the case against the accused.
Timothy Katsande (34), a public prosecutor at Chipinge Magistrates Court, and Benjamin Basikiti (35), a lawyer with Mutendi, Mudisi and Shumba Legal Practitioners, were arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission for allegedly defeating the course of justice, a crime under Section 184 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23).
The case was reported by the survivor’s father, leading to the arrest of the pair.
Circumstances surrounding the case are that on December 28, the victim was allegedly raped by her uncle at her home.
Complainant’s wife reported the matter to ZRP Chipinge Urban on December 29, 2024 under CR 134/12/24, in which her daughter was the complainant and their uncle the suspect.
The matter was allocated to Constable Dzingirai for investigation, which led to the arrest of the rape suspect on December 30, 2024 on rape charges as defined in section 65(1)(a) of the Criminal Law [Codification and Reform] Act, Chapter 9:23.
On December 31, the accused uncle, represented by Basikiti, appeared at Chipinge Magistrates Court for initial remand and was remanded in custody to January 10.
Principal Public Prosecutor Thembalami Dhliwayo appeared for the State.
On January 10, Constable Dzingirai referred a complete docket of rape to the National Prosecuting Authority for set down under CRB CHPR 125/24.
The matter was set to commence trial on the January 15.
The docket which was referred to the NPA contained the victim’s statement, which narrated how she was forced to have sexual intercourse by her uncle as well as clearly expressing that he was indeed her uncle.
The survivor impact statement also clearly indicated that the 13-year old had reported a case of rape.
All witness statements corroborated the rape charge.
The State outline also clearly indicated that the 13-year old and he uncle were related as niece and uncle, respectively.
The outline also mentioned that the victim raised alarm, but to no avail since she has a voice projection problem.
The matter was then allocated to the accused Katsande, who is assigned to the Chipinge Regional Court for prosecution.
Katsande and Basikiti went on to produce a statement of agreed facts which had completely different facts from the evidence in the docket.
The agreed facts indicated that the victim and her uncle were not related, that they had consensual sex.
With the statement of agreed facts in place, the accused person then went on to plead guilty for contravening Section 70 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act (Chapter 9:23 – having sexual intercourse with a minor” and was sentenced to 36 months in jail, of which 12 months were suspended for five years. He will serve 24 months effective.
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