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Manicaland Bureau
A MUTARE man has been jailed 98 years for sodomising nine boys after sweet-talking them to accompany him to his house in Maonde, Sakubva.
Irimai Gowera was slapped with the lengthy jail term when he appeared before Mutare regional magistrate Mrs Loice Mukunyadzi facing nine counts of indecent assault in aggravated circumstances.
Mrs Mukunyadzi set aside 42 years of his term for five years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within that period.
Gowera was convicted on his own plea. The court heard that he threatened the victims with death after abusing them. Some of the abused boys only opened up after one of them had reported the case to the police.
After his arrest, more complainants opened up and revealed the abuse.
In one of the instances, Gowera instructed three siblings to enter into his room while their aunt was away.
The boys refused, but Gowera forced them into his room without their consent and locked the door from inside.
He ordered them to remove their shorts, but they refused.
Gowera then forcibly removed their shorts and sexually abused each while the others watched.
To silence them, Gowera threatened to kill them. The boys kept quiet until their aunt confronted them after Gowera’s arrest. Gowera did the same to another boy in a public bathroom in Maonde. In a related but separate matter, a 61-year-old Chipinge man has been hauled before the courts on allegations of sodomising a neighbour’s son.
Simon Madhoyo of Chibuwe Village in Chipinge South was remanded in custody pending his trial on aggravated indecent assault charges.
Public prosecutor, Mr Timothy Katsande, told the court that Madhoyo lured his neighbour’s son to his place where he allegedly committed the crime. Madhoyo denied the charges when he initially appeared in court.
Online Reporter