A Harare man who was convicted of raping two minors after entering into their homes during the night and also stealing valuable property at three different homes has been sentenced to an effective 25 years in prison.
Blessing Mutota was convicted of three counts of rape and two unlawful entries in aggravating circumstances after a full trial by Harare regional magistrate Mrs Fadzai Mthombeni.
For the purposes of sentencing, all counts of rape were treated as the same as those of unlawful entry.
For rape, Mutota will serve 20 years in jail and for unlawful entry 5 years bringing the total to 25 years effective.
On the first count of rape, the complainant is aged 14 and resides at Churu farm in Glen View.
The State prosecutor Mr Kelvin Munyimi proved that on August 24, last year at around 2 am, the complainant was sleeping with her two young sisters when she was awakened by a light torching her face.
Mutota told the complainant not to cry after threatening her with something like a gun which he was holding.
The court heard he dragged her out of the room and dragged her for about 100 metres from the house and threatened to kill her if she screamed or shouted.
Mutota then raped her and after doing so he went on to have anal ƨǝxuɑl intercourse with her once.
She discharged some blood and Mutota ordered her to go away.
The complainant narrated the case to her mother who immediately reported the case to the police.
On another count, the complainant is Benevolence Gororo. It is the State’s case that on September 25 last year at around 3 am, Mutota used an unknown object to break Gogoro’s door and stole his cellphone, Lenovo tablet and a satchel all worth US$160.
On the fourth count, Mutota broke into a house at midnight and took a 13-year-old girl who was sleeping outside the house where he raped her.
She was unable to scream as she was threatened with a knife.
The complainant advised her parents about the rape and the case was reported to the police.
In the last charge, Mutota broke into Rudo Chakanyuka’s house (40) on September 25 at around 2 am and stole a 32-inch television, two smartphones and a blanket.
Mutota was seen by Susan Mutematsaka after he pointed a knife at her in the dining room where she was sleeping.
He was eventually arrested on September 28.
