Reprieve for chief

Chief Chitsunge (83), who was represented by Mr Walter Bherebhende, applied for bail before Justice Joseph Musakwa who allowed the application. The chief will pay US$500 bail among other conditions.

Justice Musakwa said the chief’s application was a proper case in which a bail pending appeal should be granted in view of glaring inconsistencies in the matter.

He said there were prospects of success on appeal adding that a 15-year term of imprisonment imposed on the chief was excessive. The chief was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment of which five years were conditionally suspended by a Rusape regional magistrate Mr Livingstone Chipadza after being convicted of several counts of raping the 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Area public prosecutor Mr Tirivanhu Mutyasira said the crimes were committed between February and August last year after the chief had asked the girl to look after his grandchildren while he was away attending a chiefs’ conference in Bulawayo.

The girl, who is in Grade Six, is related to the chief.
The chief approached the girl’s mother in February and requested her to allow her daughter to look after his grandchildren while he was away.

The mother agreed.
When he returned from the conference, the chief allegedly raped the girl several times in his bedroom.

The matter only surfaced after the girl started complaining of stomach pains. Her mother took her to hospital where doctors discovered she had been sexually abused.