A 27-year-old convicted criminal in Zimbabwe has been sentenced to 23 years in jail for kidnapping, torturing and holding captive his ex-girlfriend in a six-day rape ordeal, says a report.
According to the state-owned Chronicle newspaper, Kudakwashe Antony Mapwevo committed the offences a day after he had been released from prison for a robbery charge.
It was not immediately clear how long he had been incarcerated on the robbery charge.
Evidence before the court said that Mapwevo had kidnapped, assaulted and raped his ex-girlfriend between January 11-17, after he had sent a text message via her grandmother’s phone.
Prosecutor Busani Moyo said that the convicted rapist had held the unnamed woman for six days, without even offering her food.
Moyo said that after each time Mapwevo sexually assaulted his ex-girlfriend, he would force her to take a bath.
The court heard that the unnamed woman was freed on January 17 after her grandmother alerted the police to her disappearance.
Passing down his sentence, Magistrate Chrispen Mberewere described Mapwevo as a terrorist who deserved a hefty sentence.
Mberewere sentenced Mapwevo to 20 years behind bars for rape, but suspended four years of the sentence on condition of good behaviour.
The magistrate further slammed the convicted rapist with an additional two years for kidnapping his ex-girlfriend, while he also received a one0year prison term for assaulting her, but six months of his sentence was reduced on condition of good behaviour.
Mapwevo was also given a $100 fine or a 30 days in prison for damaging his ex-girlfriend’s phone.
Mapwevo would effectively serve an 18-and-a-half years in prison.
Reports last year claimed that a man who appeared before a magistrate in Hwange had shocked the court when he claimed that his victim, a mentally ill woman, forced him to have sex with her.
Muhongo Nyoni, 39, made the claims when he appeared before regional Magistrate Dambudzo Malunga, before he was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in jail.
Nyoni said that the woman threatened to open a rape charge against him if he did not have sex with her.
News24
