Published by the government of Zimbabwe
1 July 2009
Harare — MUTARE West Member of the House of Assembly Shuah Mudiwa (MDC-T), his brother and a woman have been jailed for an effective four-and-a-half years each for kidnapping a 12-year-old girl and locking her up in an isolated room without food for two days.
Mudiwa (50), his brother Takudzwa (26) and Patricia Chikide Mwashuna (45) were initially sentenced to seven years in prison each by acting chief magistrate Mrs Hlekani Mwayera on Saturday before she conditionally set aside two-and-a-half years.
The three, who denied the kidnapping charges at the commencement of the trial, were convicted on overwhelming evidence.
Meanwhile, their defence lawyer Mr Douglas Mwonzora has filed an appeal against both conviction and sentence at the High Court.
The Herald also has information that magistrate Mrs Mwayera, who is now based in Harare, and Mutare area public prosecutor Mr Arnold Chiwara have since been served with bail applications of the three pending appeal.
Mr Chiwara is yet to respond to the application, but it is not clear when Mrs Mwayera would deliver the ruling on the appeal.
The facts of the case were that on November 7, 2007, in the morning, the three parked Mudiwa's vehicle along the girl's way to school.
As the girl drew closer to the vehicle, she recognised that it belonged to Mudiwa, who she said had once unsuccessfully tried to chase after her.
She ran away, but they caught her after emerging from a nearby bushy area and bundled her into the car.
They then took the girl to Mwashuna's homestead in Mutudza Village under Chief Marange, where she was locked up in a room together with two other girls who were already there.
The court heard that the girl was warned against talking to the other two girls who were in the room.
They were not given any food.
On the second night, Takudzwa opened the door and told the girls that they were going to be killed the following day, which prompted the girl to devise ways of escaping.
She jumped through a window and ran towards her village, some 15km away.
Upon discovering that the girl had escaped, Takudzwa, who was on guard at the door to the room, followed her, but to no avail.
On reaching the village, she made a police report, leading to the arrest of the three.
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This story doesn't make any sense. Mudiwa was arrested around 2 months ago and charged about 2 weeks later; not in 2007. The article only gave the girls side of the story and doesn't mention a motive. I'd like to see the court transcript or an objective view of the case before I pass judgement.
The point of the previous comments was that justice should be applied without fear or favour to all and any politico. Whether Shuah Mudiwa is truly guilty or simply yet another victim of Mugabe's corrupted Justice Department cannot be determined from this article.
I agree with you Katz, 100 %. To do these evils deeds the perpatrators have to be brought to justice and justice in this sense has been served.
If these guys kidnapped the girls, then they deserve to rot in jail, no political intereference, this business of politiscizing criminal offences must just stop and let the judiciary do their work. Let this be a warning to politicians who commit criminal acts in the hope that they will use their political influence. If there are some MPs in ZPF commiting crimes, let this be a strong warning and they should also be dragged thru the courts. We are still to hear the fate of those ZPF and MDC MPs who abused the agricultural inputs, no sacred cows.