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Emily Mbewe Court Reporter
A 78-YEAR-OLD Tsholotsho man who was released on a presidential amnesty in 2013 after serving a month of his 20 years jail term, was yesterday jailed for 11 years after he raped his eight-year-old granddaughter.

Pada Austin Moyo benefited from the Presidential pardon after being convicted of rape.

The details of the case were not revealed in court.

Yesterday, he pleaded not guilty to raping his granddaughter but was convicted due to overwhelming evidence.

In passing sentence, regional magistrate Chrispen Mberewere bemoaned the tendency by some ex-convicts of not wanting to reform and be better people in society.

“It’s clear that after you were pardoned and released on the presidential amnesty because of your age, you did not want to change.

“You’re therefore sentenced to seven years imprisonment and because you aren’t a first offender, the four years that were suspended from the sentence you were given by senior regional magistrate Mark Dzira will be added to your jail term,” said Magistrate Mberewere.

He told Moyo that he would serve an effective 11 years imprisonment because of his behaviour.

The State as presented by Trust Muduma is that on November 28, 2014 at around 8PM, the girl retired to bed with her two siblings.

The court heard that Moyo came into the room and told the girl to sleep in a proper manner, not clearly stating how.

“Moyo came back after a few minutes wearing a white T-shirt with no trousers,” said Muduma.

He told the court that Moyo then ordered the girl to remove her panties and skirt.

He then raped the girl once before she shouted for help and no one came to her rescue.

The next morning the victim’s father came to the homestead and she informed him that she no longer wanted to stay with her grandfather because he raped her, the court heard.

The girl, said Muduma, told her father that she feared Moyo would rape her again.

“The father took the victim to her aunt’s homestead to be examined before the matter was reported, “said Muduma.

The court heard that the girl’s father later reported the matter to the police and she was taken to hospital for medical examination.