FORMER Zanu PF legislator Munyaradzi Kereke is going back to Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after the Supreme Court yesterday dismissed his appeal against a rape conviction and sentence.
Three Supreme Court judges Justices Tendai Uchena, George Chiweshe and Samuel Kudya dismissed the appeal in its entirety.
Kereke had successfully applied for bail pending appeal after serving three quarters of his sentence and is expected to serve 20 months remaining to complete his 14-year sentence.
In their determination, the judges said they could not interfere with findings of the trial court which were confirmed by the High Court.
“The appellant acted outside his remit. He apparently was ‘feared’ by even senior central bank personnel because of his close proximity to the governor.
“It was also common cause that the appellant embarked on a relentless crusade, under the guise of fighting corruption, against the Zanu PF triumvirate, his former boss and governor of the central bank, the then serving director general of the Central Intelligence Organisation and one of his minions.
“His unfruitful, but concerted efforts demonstrate that he was indeed a man whom had every reason to fear. It appears from the evidence on record that his roots ran deep in the upper echelons of the police force and the National Prosecution Authority, who desperately fought in his corner.
“He did not spare even the private prosecutor. All these facts demonstrate that he was a fearsome character, who took no prisoners, who must have coerced [Mirirai] Chiremba in the manner he asserted in his testimony,” the judges ruled.
- Kereke remanded in custody over fraud
- Kereke’s US$400k fraud case deferred
- Supreme Court sends rapist Kereke back to prison
Keep Reading
The Supreme Court said there was really nothing out of the ordinary with the sentence that was imposed on Kereke when he was sent to jail.
“The trial magistrate properly weighed the mitigatory circumstances against the aggravatory ones. He rightly paid regard to the aggravating circumstances listed in s65 (2) of the Criminal Law Code on the age disparity between the appellant and the complainant, the fact that the appellant was in loco parentis, the spectre of transmitting sexually transmitted infections and diseases, bearing in mind his further status as a polygamist and the emotional harm visited on the complainant,” the judges said.
“The trial court did not overlook his large nuclear family consisting of more than 20 offspring, his mighty fall from grace and the consequent financial, social, emotional and moral effect it had on him and those who were near and dear to him. The appeal against sentence is, therefore, unmeritorious and must also be dismissed,” the judges ruled.
