A Zimbabwean woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison for r@ping, and a mentally challenged man was reduced by the High Court after confirming that the trial court had introduced an outdated legal provision.
Sitheni Masina, convicted of two counts of serious indecent offences, appealed her conviction and sentence, holding that the magistrate used a law that had not been in force at the time of the crime.
Justice Munamato Mutevedzi, who presided over the appeal, agreed with Masina’s argument that the magistrate mistakenly relied on Law 10 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) of 2023, which only began operation on July 14, 2023. Masina’s crime occurred between January 1 and September 9, 2023.
“Between January 1, 2023 and June 9, 2023, the Appellant was convicted of two counts. Needless to say, that was before the Criminal Code (Codification and Reform Act) No. 10/23 (“Amendment”) operated on July 14, 2023 (14, 2023).
He pointed out that Masina believes that the severe punishment arising from the amendment cannot legally apply to her case. The new law proposes mandatory minimum sentences for R@PE and aggravates indecent attacks, but the provision cannot be used retrospectively.
“The appellant therefore correctly filed the court in the debate that the court applied the wrong law. It is impossible to sentence the appellant using the law imposed by the Crime Commission after the crime,” he said.
Prior to the amendment, aggravated judgments on indecent assault allowed the court to consider mitigation factors, including the offender’s background and circumstances, especially for first-time offenders. In view of this, the High Court reduced Masina’s sentence to seven years in prison, and after three years of prison, she did not commit another sexual offense during that period.
Justice Mutevedzi admitted that Masina was the first-time offender and the mother of three minor children. He said these convincingly mitigate interference with the original sentence is justified. However, her beliefs remain intact and the time she has served will count as a new judgment.
