A regional court has sentenced Madzibaba Gathry Chiredzero to an effective 20 years in prison after convicting him of raping a 13-year-old girl under the pretext of performing a spiritual healing ritual.
His wife, Diana Chauke, was sentenced to an effective 15 years’ imprisonment after the court found her guilty as an accomplice in the crime.
Regional magistrate Estere Chivasa handed down the sentences today.
Chiredzero and Chauke had been jointly charged alongside the victim’s mother, who was acquitted after the court found her defence reasonably possibly true. In delivering judgment, the magistrate accepted that the mother had acted under duress, after Chiredzero allegedly threatened her with a firearm.