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Lindani Dube Hwange Court Correspondent
PROFESSOR Mpala, 36, a rape convict who sneaked out of Hwange magistrates’ court on Monday and disappeared into the bush before sentencing, has been caught and was yesterday sentenced to 15 years in jail.Mpala, an ex-kombi driver from Cowdray Park suburb  in Bulawayo, was caught on Monday around 8PM by police acting on a tip-off after prison officers’ search for him proved fruitless.

Regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga, who had issued a warrant of arrest for him, yesterday sentenced Mpala to 15 years in prison and conditionally suspended three. He re-appeared in court around 1PM in handcuffs to receive his sentence and when Malunga asked him why he ran away, Mpala said it was a mistake.

“It was a mistake. I talked to my lawyer and told him I needed money to appeal and was arrested while waiting for the money from my colleagues,” he said.

Surprised, Malunga asked, “Did I ask you for money for any appeal? You are not even contrite.”

The magistrate said Mpala took advantage of his 17-year-old victim’s mental condition and raped her.

“She was half your age and the same age as your daughter. You traumatised her by taking advantage of her mental condition,” said Malunga in passing sentence.

She added: “The courts will continue to protect girls like her from people like you who prey on them.”

One of the relatives to the victim tipped off the police after she spotted Mpala at Number One bus rank while accompanying a friend.

Mpala, who used to ply the Binga-Bulawayo route in 2012, had pleaded not guilty to the crime but was convicted of raping a mentally challenged 17-year-old Binga girl in his vehicle.

Prosecutors say on February 21, 2012 at about 5PM, the girl went to Govera business centre to buy maize meal. After she emerged from a shop, it started raining heavily and Mpala offered her shelter in his Streetliner kombi which had two people inside.

Prosecuting, Bheki Tshabalala said Mpala dismissed the other occupants to go and buy meat from the butchery before he “switched off the lights and pulled her towards the back seat and grabbed her by the neck”.

He said Mpala closed the girl’s mouth with his hand and “removed her clothing and raped her as she screamed”.

He then ordered the girl to get out and threatened her with unspecified action if she told anyone about his assault on her. The court heard that the girl got pregnant and told her mother of the rape and a report was made to the police.

In his defence, Mpala said the girl was his girlfriend and claimed they had an affair for a month before having sex. It emerged during proceedings that the victim was mentally challenged after she was examined by a psychiatrist.