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Cop jailed 15 years for rape

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A CHINHOYI cop will rue the day he laid his hands on a 20-year-old woman after regional magistrate Clever Tsikwa slapped him with a 15-year jail term for rape yesterday.

A CHINHOYI cop will rue the day he laid his hands on a 20-year-old woman after regional magistrate Clever Tsikwa slapped him with a 15-year jail term for rape yesterday. REPORT BY CHARLES LAITON SENIOR COURT REPORTER

The police officer Lawrence Mashonganyika (29) will, however, serve an effective 10-year jail term after five years were suspended on condition of good behaviour.

In passing sentence, the magistrate concurred with prosecutor Tracy Mundanga that Mashonganyika deserved a custodial sentence given that he had committed a heinous offence by invading the woman’s privacy.

Mundanga also castigated Mashonganyika for getting the name of the police force into disrepute.

“The accused’s case is aggravated in that he is a law enforcing agent, a duly attested member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police. He does not mind giving a bad name to the office,” Mundanga said.

Addressing the court in mitigation, Mashonganyika pleaded for mercy and told the magistrate he was a father of five children — each from a different mother.

The court heard that the incident that landed the cop in trouble occurred during the night of August 26 this year.

Mashonganyika met the woman with whom he grew up with in the same neighbourhood and the two had a general discussion.

The court heard Mashonganyika later asked the woman to accompany him to his brother’s house on the pretext that he wanted to collect his cellphone.

Upon arrival at the house, Mashonganyika invited the woman claiming he wanted her to greet his grandmother.

He then held the woman by the hand, dragged her inside one of the rooms and raped her after gagging her mouth.

The woman immediately reported the incident to her close relatives, leading to Mashonganyika’s arrest. End . . . /