BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE CONVICTED child rapist Munyaradzi Kereke is heading back to court to hear his appeal against sentence and conviction at the Supreme Court.
The former Bikita West Member of Parliament and adviser to former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono is serving a 10-year jail sentence after four were conditionally set aside.
Kereke was accused of raping his 11-year-old niece at gunpoint.
NewsDay gathers that his record is now with the High Court for inspection. The victim’s lawyer Charles Warara has already inspected the record, and signed it.
This was after the High Court Registrar sent an invitation to both parties to inspect the record on May 9 this year.
They were given a 10-day deadline to inspect and sign it.
He was granted $500 000 bail by Supreme Court judge Justice Mwayera in August 2021 pending appeal following his conviction in 2016 by Harare magistrate Noel Mupeiwa.
Kereke was found guilty of raping his niece, but was acquitted on the other count of indecent assault purportedly committed against his older niece.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Kereke denied the offence saying the lower court erred and misdirected itself on several grounds he proposed in the notice of appeal he filed before the High Court.
But Warara proved that Kereke raped the minor at gunpoint and she did not tell anyone about it.
Kereke’s legal battle had many twists and turns until he was convicted after his case had been parked for six years at the Prosecutor-General’s Office.
His case was a landmark case to be privately prosecuted.
Kereke’s case had to proceed through private prosecution after the then Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana refused to prosecute him, claiming there was no evidence linking him to the offence.
- Follow Desmond on Twitter @DChingarande1
