According to Herald, regional magistrate Mrs Dambudzo Malunga had sentenced Charles Magombedze to 78 years in prison, but conditionally suspended six years.
Charles, a serial rapist, on Tuesday begged the court to hang him for his
heinous acts.
Magombedze was convicted on eight counts of rape on his own plea of
guilt. He shocked the court when he requested the hangman’s noose,
saying he was unable to exorcise the evil spirit that led him into
committing the crimes if left alive.
Malunga said Magombedze deserved severe punishment as he behaved like a
beast when he raped the victims by using dangerous weapons like iron
bars, axes and machetes when he committed the offences.
Magombedze raped a woman before abusing a pupil at Chibaya High
School in June last year. In the same month, he raped another woman who
was doing laundry along Tugwi River in Chivi. In October the same year,
the convict raped another woman who was going to church. He also raped a
police constabulary’s wife, then raped a 14- year-old girl, who was
herding cattle in January this year.
He raped a woman after waylaying her at Charumbira Farm. In the
same month, Magombedze raped a child he found sleeping in a hut at Jeka
Village. He raped another woman after threatening her near Stephen
business centre. He also abused a woman in a garden at Rukanda Farm in
the same month after hitting her with a brick. Magombedze raped another
woman whom he found in a garden along Tugwi River. .
The serial rapist also handcuffed and raped a woman at Shokoni
Business Centre in Chivi. He raped another one at Razi Business Centre
in the same district while she was coming from hospital.
Magombedze also
faces attempted murder charges after stabbing a woman five times whom
she failed to rape after she managed to flee.
On his initial appearance in court on Tuesday, Magombedze said he was a
member of a Satanic cult whose goal was to spill blood and to have
unprotected sex to breed another Satanic generation.