Dismissing an appeal against sentence by Sikunda Dube (57) of Plumtree who is serving 20 years in jail for raping and impregnating his neighbour’s 16-year-old daughter, Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Francis Bere said that rapists must be castrated as a form of punishment.
Justice Bere’s call for castration comes two years after he said wealthy rapists should be forced to part with some of their assets and money which should go towards paying medical bills and rehabilitation of victims in addition to stiff jail terms. Bere dismissed Dube’s appeal and said that he may have ruined the victim’s future as she now has to raise a child as a single parent. Said justice Bere:
You may have destroyed the victim’s future by raping and impregnating her resulting in her being a mother at a tender age. The victim is now facing a burden of single handedly raising the baby. Paedophiles that go around sexually abusing minors should be castrated as some form of punishment, which is what legislators are calling for. The court will therefore not interfere with the sentencing of the court a quo. Accordingly, the appeal against sentence is dismissed.
Dube of Tshibako village under Chief Bango area was in 2015 convicted of rape by Bulawayo regional magistrate Mrs Sibongile Marondedze and sentenced to 20 years in jail of which two years were conditionally suspended for five years. He appealed against the sentence arguing that it is harsh since he is a widower with five children to take care of.
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