Man gets 22 years for revenge assault

IN a callous act of revenge, a Raffingora man forced a woman who had falsely accused him of stealing from her homestead to sexually stimulate him orally.

For that, Matthew Denis (26) of Mukuyu Farm in Raffingora has been found guilty of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to 22 years in prison.

This was after he abducted the woman from her home to a secluded location about a kilometre away, intending to rape her as revenge for getting him arrested.

When the cornered woman claimed that she was HIV positive, Denis decided not to rape her, but forced her to orally stimulate him.

Chinhoyi regional magistrate Mr Amos Mbobo conditionally suspended two years of the 22 years.

Denis denied the charge, saying he did not know the woman, but the court managed to prove that indeed he had indecently assaulted her.

Prior to the assault incident, Denis had been reported to the police for stealing 500kg of maize, a bar of soap, cooking oil and a cellphone, among other things.

He was interrogated and released and went to the woman’s homestead at a nearby farm.

Denis told the woman that she wanted to get him arrested and as a result he wanted to rape her for three consecutive days as revenge.

That is when he dragged her to a secluded place at knife point about a kilometre away.

He ripped the woman’s undergarments using the knife intending to rape her, but after being told that she was HIV positive, he then decided to force her to perform oral sex.

The process was repeated three times and on the fourth, he forced her to swallow semen.

It was revealed in court that the woman was abducted from her home at around 3pm and she only managed to escape four hours later.

At some stage, Denis dragged the woman to a nearby dam where he wanted to drown her.

Along the way, they came across the woman’s husband at the dam.

On seeing the man approaching, Denis ran away, leaving the woman calling out for help.

At the time, the woman did not know that it was her husband approaching as it was now dark.

In his judgment, Mr Mbobo said the courts would not be doing their job correctly if heartless criminals like Denis were not given lengthy custodial sentences.

In aggravation, prosecutor Mr Trustmore Mukarati said the callousness shown by Denis deserved a lengthy sentence.

Denis led police to the recovery of the ripped underwear, the stolen maize and cellphone, among other items.

He also admitted in court as the trial progressed that he only knew the woman because he used to buy fish from her.

This is despite him denying knowing her when the trial started.

He is set to go for trial on charges of theft.