YOUNG boys undergoing initiation for Nyau (zvigure) dancing are sometimes sodomised as punishment if they fail the test or misbehave during training, a Chivhu court heard on Friday.
By Miriam Mangwaya
This was revealed by one of the leaders of a Nyau dancing group in Beatrice who was arraigned before the courts for sodomising two boys aged 11 during a training session.
The Nyau dancer (29), who cannot be named to protect the identities of the minors, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for aggravated indecent assault on his own plea before Chivhu regional magistrate Fadzai Mtombeni.
He indecently abused the minors while their peers watched.
In mitigation, the convict told the court that he did not know that it was a crime since it was the norm at their training shrine to punish for incompetence with sodomy.
He said the victims consented to the assault because they were aware of the “rule”.
On passing sentence, Mtombeni said the convict did not only traumatise the boys by committing the offence while they were watching, but had actually taught them the criminal activity.
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It was the State’s case that on May 2, 2020, at Didcort Farm in Beatrice, two minors went to a forest for their routine training for Nyau dancing.
When they were putting on their dancing regalia, the convict took them further into the bush where he had anal sex with them in turns.
Later that day, one of the boys told his aunt what had happened in the bush. The matter was reported to the police, leading to the convict’s arrest.
Audrey Mpini appeared for the State.
