Online Reporter
Danisa Masuku
A TRUSTED neighbour turned into a sexual predator and is now behind bars after he was convicted of aggravated indecent assault for inserting his fingers into a young girl’s private parts.
Shane Mathe (27) of How Mine compound, just outside Bulawayo, will now spend the next six years in jail after his twisted actions shattered the innocence of a neighbour’s daughter.
Mathe had been making endless trips to Bulawayo Regional Court, protesting his innocence before Regional Magistrate Joseph Mabeza, but last week his lies crumbled as the court found him guilty.
He was slapped with an eight-year jail sentence, with two years suspended on condition he stays clean for the next five years.
The horrifying details of the attack were laid bare in court.
The State told how Mathe forced his way into the girl’s home, heading first to the fridge as if to steal something, but left it untouched. Instead, he made his way to the bedroom where the unsuspecting girl was resting.
Without warning, Mathe crept into her blankets, tore her underwear, and forcefully inserted two fingers into her private parts.
The girl screamed for help, but the monster was undeterred. He knew she was alone at home. After satisfying his twisted urges, he casually walked out of the house and vanished.
Shaken and in pain, the girl quickly called her mother, who rushed home in a panic. The matter was immediately reported to the police, leading to Mathe’s arrest.
During sentencing, the magistrate acknowledged that Mathe was a first-time offender but ruled that the circumstances of the crime were too severe to warrant leniency.
In a heart-breaking victim impact statement, the girl’s mother said the trauma has changed her daughter’s life.
“The incident left my daughter traumatised. Her class teacher told me that she casts a lonely, sorrowful figure at school. Her performance has dropped. She felt betrayed by Mathe because she trusted him.”
Neighbours in How Mine are reeling in shock. Mathe was known as a quiet man, often seen helping with chores and chatting with residents. But beneath the surface lurked a predator.
“This man was always around our kids,” said one neighbour. “We never suspected a thing. He deserves every day he spends in jail.”
As the prison gates close behind Mathe, the girl and her family begin the long road to healing, while the community remains haunted by the betrayal of a man they once trusted.
