adminLeonard Ncube Senior Court Reporter
ANOTHER pardoned criminal has struck.
Cloud Phiri, who was released from Bulawayo Prison last week after serving part of a sentence for unlawful entry, is back in the courts for allegedly raping a minor.
Phiri 20, of Tshabalala, who had barely spent a week out of prison, pounced on a 15-year-old girl from Highmount suburb as she and her young brother fetched firewood in a bush on Friday.
He tore off her clothes and raped her, ignoring her screams and pleas after overpowering the young brother who dashed off to seek help, a court heard.
The girl had turned down his love proposal.
Phiri appeared before magistrate Gladmore Mushove who remanded him in custody to March 10.
His trial starts on March 20.
Prosecuting, Raymond Jaravaza told how the girl and her brother went to fetch firewood in a bush near Highmount at about 9AM.
Phiri emerged from the bush, proposed love and when she turned him down, he grabbed her and pushed her to the ground.
Jaravaza said the little brother tried to stop Phiri but to no avail and he sped off to alert nearby people leaving his sister screaming for help.
He said: “After the rape, Phiri disappeared into the bush and the girl went home to narrate her ordeal to her mother who helped her to make a report to the police.”
Phiri was later apprehended by a group of men who gathered and searched for him after the boy alerted them.
The girl positively identified him at the police station.
Police reportedly recovered a girl’s torn panties at the crime scene.
President Mugabe extended the presidential pardon to more than 2,000 inmates on February 12 this year in terms of Section 112 (1) (a) and (d) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Three other pardoned criminals were last week arrested after they broke into a house in Nketa 7 suburb and stole a plasma television set and three cellphones barely a day after release from Khami Prison where they were serving jail sentences for unlawful entry and theft.
Mandi Mabhena 31, Elvis Khalima Banda 33, and Nomthandazo Mzingaye Moyo 25, all from Emganwini suburb appeared in court and were remanded in custody to February 25 for trial.
Online Reporter