BULAWAYO- The High Court has ordered the immediate release of a 21-year-old Inyathi man jailed for an effective 21 months for having sexual intercourse with a girl, 14.
Justices Munamato Mutevedzi and Ngoni Nduna set aside the custodial sentence imposed on Mduduzi Ngwenya, blasting the trial magistrate for handing down a “worryingly excessive” punishment that failed to look at non-custodial options.
The judges ordered that Ngwenya be immediately liberated from prison and that the case be sent back to the Inyathi Magistrates Court for resentencing, with instructions to consider alternatives to prison such as community service or a fine.
Ngwenya had been convicted after a contested trial for having sexual intercourse with a young person.
The court heard that Ngwenya and the 14-year-old girl were in a romantic relationship between September 2025 and February 2026. The affair came to light on February 25, 2026, when Ngwenya was caught inside the teenager’s bedroom, leading to his arrest.
During sentencing, the Inyathi magistrate rejected non-custodial options, arguing that giving a fine or community service would make a “mockery of the justice system” and protect “predators.”
The magistrate then sentenced Ngwenya to 24 months in prison, suspending only three months.
However, reviewing the case, Justice Mutevedzi ruled that the magistrate completely misdirected herself by overplaying the age gap between the two lovers. The judge noted that under recent amendments, the law acknowledges close age gaps and plays down criminalising relationships where an adult is not more than three years older than the victim.
“In this case, the offender is aged 21 years whilst the complainant is 14 years old. He is, therefore, barely four years outside the protected bracket,” Justice Mutevedzi noted, with Nduna concurring.
“Clearly, it ought to have been taken in the offender’s favour.”
The High Court further noted that Ngwenya was a youthful first-time offender who earned a living through small-scale mining, making him an ideal candidate to be kept out of Zimbabwe’s overcrowded prisons.
The judges ruled that whenever a court settles on an effective sentence of 24 months or less, it is required by law to meaningfully consider community service or a fine rather than reflexively sending first-time offenders to jail.
“The trial court had already decided, by imposing 24 months imprisonment, that the offence was not a serious one,” Justice Mutevedzi stated.
“It becomes paradoxical to then turn around and argue that sentences that are intended for non-serious crimes will be a mockery to the administration of justice if imposed.”
The High Court directed the registrar to issue a warrant for Ngwenya’s immediate release, ordering that any time he has already spent behind bars must be deducted from whatever non-custodial sentence the magistrate imposes.
