Online Reporter
Muchaneta Chimuka
MULTIPLE rape and attempted murder convict Anymore Zvitsva (35) yesterday pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including attempted murder, rape and robbery, before Harare regional magistrate Mr Francis Mapfumo.
The charges include five counts of attempted murder, four counts of rape and one count of robbery.
Zvitsva appeared calm throughout the proceedings as the court conducted a sentencing inquiry ahead of judgment scheduled for May 20.
During mitigation proceedings, the court heard submissions from complainants, some of whom said they wanted him sentenced to death, jailed for life or subjected to corporal punishment.
Responding to the sentiments, Zvitsva repeatedly told the court: “My mindset was not like that because I never grew up doing these things, but I later started committing crimes involuntarily.
“I can’t deny the pleas of complainants because they were pained by my actions.”
Public prosecutor Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti urged the court not to consider a global sentence, arguing that the offences were too serious and varied in nature to be treated concurrently.
He cited several legal authorities, including S v Sparks 1972 (3) SA 396 (A), which states: “Punishment should fit the criminal as well as the crime, be fair to the State and to the accused and be blended with a measure of mercy. The sentence must not have the effect of breaking the offender.”
Zvitsva is expected to face separate murder charges before the High Court, while the regional court is only handling the attempted murder, rape and robbery charges.
According to the State, on October 9 last year, a 27-year-old woman was sleeping in her room at Ditwi Village, Chiwe Farm, Raffingora, Mashonaland West Province, when Zvitsva allegedly forced his way into the house armed with an Okapi knife and snare wire.
The court heard that he threatened to kill her if she screamed, before tying her hands and legs with wire and dragging her to the Dangemuri Mountain thickets, where he raped her once.
After the assault, he allegedly stabbed her once on the back and neck before fleeing.
On October 27, the court heard that Zvitsva attacked a 62-year-old woman at Mudhindo Village under Chief Bepura in Guruve while she was fetching water from a borehole.
He allegedly struck her with a machete, raped her and strangled her with a wire before leaving her unconscious.
On the same day, Zvitsva allegedly attacked Brian Ngoshi, who was walking home from Kachuta Business Centre.
The court heard that he struck Ngoshi twice on the head with a machete before strangling him with a wire and robbing him of a cigarette lighter and a packet of Madison cigarettes.
Explaining the incident in court, Zvitsva said: “I simply asked to use his cigarette to light mine, and he refused, saying, ‘What if you are an armed robber and I became angry and started attacking him and stole his items.”
The court also heard that on November 18 last year at Mupinyuri Village under Chief Chipuriro in Guruve, Zvitsva allegedly stabbed another complainant with a spear.
In another case, he allegedly attacked a woman with a log and strangled her with a wire.
Later on, he raped a 14-year-old girl whom he allegedly tied with shoelaces and forcibly marched to Nyakapupu Mountain, where he raped her three times.
The assault was reportedly interrupted after a passer-by chasing baboons with an air gun noticed the incident, forcing Zvitsva to flee.
