Staff reporter
A Chipinge regional public prosecutor has been convicted for defeating the course of justice after he altered facts of a rape case involving a 13-year old girl and her uncle.
Timothy Katsande (34) was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment by Mutare provincial magistrate Anne Ndiraya.
Seven months of the sentence were suspended on condition of good behaviour and a further five months suspended on condition that Katsande performs 245 hours of community service at Chipinge hospital.
The court heard that on December 28, 2024, a 13-year-old girl was raped by her 30-year-old uncle in Chipinge and matter was reported to the police, leading to the uncle’s arrest on December 30, 2024, on a charge of rape as defined in Section 65 of the Criminal Law Code.
The case was assigned to Katsande for trial but it later emerged that he had drafted a Statement of Agreed Facts that was different from the evidence in the official docket. The fabricated statement claimed that the victim and the accused were not related and that they had engaged in consensual intercourse, causing the court to allow the girl’s uncle to plead guilty to a lesser charge of ‘Having sexual intercourse with a minor’.
As a result of the fabricated statement, the girl’s uncle was sentenced to 36 months in prison, with 12 months suspended, leaving him with an effective 24-month sentence.
The girl’s parents protested against the Statement of Agreed Facts and reported the matter to Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, leading to Katsande’s arrest
