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Zimbabwe: Attempted Rape Cannot Be Considered Actual Rape – Court Rules

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Zimbabwe: Attempted Rape Cannot Be Considered Actual Rape – Court Rules

The Bulawayo High Court has reduced the sentences of three men serving time after being convicted of attempted rape; It ruled that the judges presiding over the cases made a mistake in punishing the rapists by giving them the sentences imposed upon conviction.

The three are Ngonidzashe Nkomo, Nqobani Nyathi and Sydney Sibanda.

They were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment each after being convicted by the Plumtree and Bulawayo Magistrates respectively.

Following the reduction of their sentences, Nkomo will now be sentenced to 10 years in prison and Nyathi will be sentenced to seven years.

Sibanda will serve nine years in effective prison for the two crimes for which he was convicted.

Delivering his verdict, Bulawayo High Court judge Maxwell Ndlovu said some mercy was an element of justice.

“The three convicted criminals committed serious crimes.

“However, they did not commit rape but attempted rape.

“The legislature did not say that none of this would be suspended; as a precedent, an attempt to commit a crime is less punishable than the commission of the entire crime.

“Appropriate penalties are always appreciated and desired,” he said.

Ndlovu also said the public must have confidence and discretion in how criminals will be punished.

“In other words, courts are supposed to give reasonable sentences to an ordinary citizen based on a simple point of logic.

“Not distinguishing between the sentence someone receives for rape and the sentence they receive for attempted rape makes little sense, let alone builds trust and confidence in the judicial system in the eyes of the public the courts serve.