BULAWAYO - A Pumula man has been jailed for 12 years for raping two minors aged four and six years old.
Brendon Zolani Moyo, 21, who pleaded not guilty to rape, was jailed by magistrate Sikhumbuzo Nyathi at the Bulawayo Regional Courts.
He looked calm even after sentence.
Moyo was sentenced to eight years for each count but four years were suspended on condition of good behaviour.
In passing sentence, magistrate Nyathi bemoaned the increase in sexual abuse of young children.
“As courts, we therefore have to show disapproval to the public on this kind of behaviour by imposing deterrent harsh sentences to the offenders,” he said, adding children were the future whose safety and welfare should be safeguarded.
Nyathi said in arriving at the sentence, he also considered that Moyo has a pending rape case involving a four-year-old, which the same court convicted him of last week.
Prosecutor Masimba Saruwaka alleged that the offence occurred on an unknown date in April this year. The two children were playing at Moyo’s residence when he hatched a plan to rape
them.
The six-year-old victim later reported the matter to her mother. She also disclosed that Moyo had also raped her friend.
In his defence, Moyo claimed he did not rape the girl and alleged that she had injured her private parts when she fell off a bicycle.
Moyo told the court that on the day, eight children were playing at his home.
He said they spent the day playing freely but he was surprised at sunset to get a visit from people alleging that the children had been raped.