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A 23-YEAR-OLD Zvishavane man has been charged over alleged sex attacks on 11 school boys.
Steward Kere, of Mapanzure Village under Chief Mapanzure, yesterday appeared before Gweru regional magistrate, Morgan Nemadire, facing 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault.
Prosecutors say Kere preyed on young boys from the same village attending Msipani Primary School.
He promised them gifts to lure them into his bedroom before performing sickening sex attacks on them, Emmanuel Matosi told the court as Kere went on trial.
Kere entered a not guilty plea.
Matosi said Kere was employed as a domestic worker at a homestead in the Mapanzure area and sometime in February last year, he started abusing boys as young as 12.
The court heard that on one such occasion, Kere acted the good Samaritan and offered a 13-year-old boy, a neighbour, to come and charge his cellphone at his employer’s residence.
Matosi told the court that while the minor was plugging his phone, Kere jumped at him from behind and sodomised him once.
Kere, it is alleged, warned the boy to keep quiet about the abuse or risk being thrashed.
In another incident, Kere invited a 12-year-old boy to go and herd cattle with him. But as soon as they reached a secluded place, the court heard how Kere forced himself on the boy once.
He also threatened him with violence if he exposed him.
A third boy alleged that Kere approached him with four loaves of bread. Matosi said after eating some of the bread, Kere tripped him and the boy fell on his back.
He said Kere sexually abused the boy once before offering him $2 to buy his silence.
His final victim, say prosecutors, was a 13-year-old Grade 7 pupil who was lured to Kere’s bedroom hut on the promise of a wire toy car which the alleged paedophile claimed he was keeping for him.
Kere, it is alleged, forcibly removed the boy’s pants before performing anal sex on him.
The juvenile later experienced pain in his stomach and on his anus, prompting him to tell his mother about the abuse.
The boy’s mother raised the alarm with school authorities who, following a public accouncement, drew out Kere’s other alleged victims.
The trial continues tomorrow.
Online Reporter