Harare regional magistrate Mr Noel Mupeiwa has today convicted former senior Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe official Munyaradzi Kereke of raping ...
Harare regional magistrate Mr Noel Mupeiwa has today convicted former senior Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe official Munyaradzi Kereke of raping his wife’s niece but has cleared him of indecently assaulting her sister.
The Bikita West Member of Parliament was under trial, charged with raping and indecently assaulting his two nieces in 2010 then aged 10 and 15.
Kereke’s judgement seals a brutal and financially draining four-year litigation as the MP used every available loophole to avoid his day in court.
The complainants and their guardian Francis Maramwidze finally won the battle in November last year when the Constitutional Court ruled the family had the right to privately prosecute Kereke over the allegations as there was sufficient evidence for him to be placed on his defence.
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| Munyaradzi Kereke Found Guilty Of Rape |
Kereke told the court he was a polygamist with three wives and several children. He said polygamy is permissible in his church and that the constitution too, allowed it.
Warara had charged that Kereke is a person who enjoys multiple and concurrent sexual relationships as he had many wives even before joining the apostolic sect at the close of 2009.
Kereke admitted that in his life he has been married to five women but said he has since divorced two, including his former workmate Jocelyn Karati.
The prosecutor had also provided evidence claiming that Kereke was a man of a violent disposition and was once convicted of firearm abuse.
Kereke faces a possible life sentence for the crimes committed. It certainly does not look good for the legislator, as the victim was very young, underage, and Kereke was both related to the victim and in a position of authority.
This certainly ticks most boxes for a lengthy sentence, or an outright life sentence.
Below is the Criminal Codification of Zimbabwe: Special attention to areas in bold.
CRIMINAL LAW (CODIFICATION AND REFORM) ACT [CHAPTER 9:23]
Act 23/2004*
Section 65: Rape
(1) If a male person knowingly has sexual intercourse or anal sexual intercourse with a female person and, at the time of the intercourse:
(a) the female person has not consented to it; and
(b) he knows that she has not consented to it or realises that there is a real risk or possibility that she may not have consented to it;
he shall be guilty of rape and liable to imprisonment for life or any shorter period.
(2) For the purpose of determining the sentence to be imposed upon a person convicted of rape, a court shall have regard to the following factors, in addition to any other relevant factors and circumstances:
(a) the age of the person raped;
(b) the degree of force or violence used in the rape;
(c) the extent of physical and psychological injury inflicted upon the person raped;
(d) the number of persons who took part in the rape;
(e) the age of the person who committed the rape;
(f) whether or not any weapon was used in the commission of the rape;
(g) whether the person committing the rape was related to the person raped in any of the degrees mentioned in subsection (2) of section seventy-five;
(h) whether the person committing the rape was the parent or guardian of, or in a position of authority over, the person raped;
(i) whether the person committing the rape was infected with a sexually transmitted disease at the time of the rape.
More to follow…
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