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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
THE High Court has dismissed an application for bail pending appeal by a Victoria Falls teacher serving a 10 year-jail term for sneaking into his tenant’s 15-year-old epileptic daughter’s bedroom and raping her while she was unconscious.

A drunken Dennis Mazarira (41) fell asleep on top of the girl after the sex attack. The girl had fallen unconscious after a seizure.

Mazarira was found naked inside the complainant’s bedroom after the girl managed to escape and locked the door from outside before alerting neighbours.

The teacher was last year convicted of rape by Hwange regional magistrate Ms Dambudzo Malunga and sentenced to 10 years in jail of which two years were conditionally suspended for five years.

Mazarira, through his lawyers Dube and Company, appealed to the Bulawayo High Court citing the State as the respondent.

In his grounds of appeal, Mazarira said there were good prospects of success on appeal.

He argued that the lower court erred by disregarding inconsistencies in the testimony of the complainant.

Mazarira said the magistrate overlooked the fact that the complainant did not report to anyone that she had been raped since her aunt was very drunk.

In his ruling, Justice Maxwell Takuva said the appeal had no prospects of success.

He said the criticism that the complainant’s testimony was riddled with inconsistencies lacked merit.

“The complainant remained consistent in respect of what the intruder did to her and how she discovered that someone had mounted her. The evidence clearly established legal penetration at the very least, and there was no room for any doubt as regards the degree of penetration required to sustain a conviction for rape,” said the judge.

Justice Takuva said if granted bail there was no guarantee that Mazarira would not abscond.

“Logically, bail will more readily be refused where the sentence imposed is a long term of imprisonment. In the present case, the applicant was sentenced to an effective eight years and the likelihood of him considering it worthwhile to abscond rather than serve his sentence is real. Accordingly, the application is dismissed,” ruled the judge.

—@mashnets.