Online Reporter
Peter Matika [email protected]
THE Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a Bulawayo man convicted of indecent assault and aggravated indecent assault of a minor, effectively sealing his fate by upholding an effective 15-year prison sentence imposed by the lower courts.
A two-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Nicholas Mathonsi and Justice Hlekani Mwayera dismissed Henry Nherera’s appeal against both conviction and sentence, ruling that there was no basis to interfere with the decisions of the trial court and the High Court.
The State successfully opposed the appeal through Mr Kudakwashe Jaravaza, who represented the prosecution before the country’s highest court.
The ruling brings to an end Nherera’s protracted legal battle, which began in 2025 when he committed the offence, after he unsuccessfully challenged his conviction at every level of the judicial system.
Nherera was initially convicted by the Western Commonage Magistrates’ Court on charges of indecent assault and aggravated indecent assault involving a minor who lived at the same residential premises as him.
The trial court sentenced him to an effective 15 years’ imprisonment after finding that the State had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Mr Jaravaza said the offences were committed on two separate occasions, between August 2022 and October 2024.
“Sometime in 2022 on a date that the complainant cannot remember, during the day, she went to the accused’s house intending to use his cellphone to communicate with her mother who stays outside the town,” he said.
Mr Jaravaza said Nherera fondled the girl’s private parts and told her not to tell anyone, claiming she was his girlfriend.
On the second occasion sometime in October 2024, the complainant went to Nherera’s house to assist the accused person’s daughter with some school homework and found the accused person seated in the house together with his daughter.
“The complainant assisted the accused’s daughter with her homework while the accused was seated in the house. After finishing the homework, his daughter took a blanket and slept, leaving the complainant seated,” said Mr Jaravaza.
He described how Nherera thrust his fingers into the juvenile’s privates.
The abuse remained undisclosed for some time until the complainant eventually confided in school authorities, who promptly reported the matter to the police.
The report triggered investigations that culminated in Nherera’s arrest and prosecution.
During the trial, Nherera denied committing the offences and maintained that he had been falsely implicated.
He argued that the allegations stemmed from disagreements between his family and relatives of the complainant and urged the court to reject the complainant’s evidence.
However, the magistrate found the complainant to be a truthful, credible and reliable witness whose testimony remained consistent throughout the proceedings.
The court further ruled that the delay in reporting the offences had been adequately explained by the complainant’s age, vulnerability and the circumstances surrounding the abuse.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Nherera appealed to the High Court, challenging both the conviction and sentence.
Among other grounds, he questioned the credibility of the complainant’s testimony, argued that there had been insufficient corroborative evidence and contended that the trial court had improperly evaluated the medical evidence presented during the proceedings.
The appeal was heard by Justices Maxwell Dube and Munamato Nduna, who dismissed every ground advanced by the appellant.
In their judgment, the High Court judges found that the trial court had meticulously analysed the evidence before it and correctly applied the law.
They held that the complainant’s evidence was coherent, consistent and credible, adding that there was no misdirection by the trial court warranting interference with either the conviction or the sentence.
Still maintaining his innocence, Nherera escalated the matter to the Supreme Court in a final bid to overturn the judgments of the lower courts. He sought to persuade the apex court that the High
Court had erred in affirming the magistrate’s findings and asked that both the convictions and the 15-year prison sentence be set aside.
After considering the record of proceedings and submissions from both the appellant and the State, Justice Mathonsi and Justice Mwayera found no merit in the appeal.
The judges dismissed the appeal in its entirety, thereby affirming both the conviction and the effective 15-year custodial sentence imposed by the Western Commonage Magistrates’ Court and subsequently upheld by the High Court.
