THE Beitbridge community this week heaved a huge sigh of relief, when serial rapist
and burglar, Boniface Moyo (28), was jailed for 59 years after he was convicted of
three counts of rape.
Moyo, who caused sleepless nights for lone women in central Beitbridge areas of
Tongwe, Penemene, Matshiloni, Tshapfutshe, Lutumba, Chamnanga and the
precincts of Beitbridge had his criminal journey cut short in South Africa, where he
was arrested.
The Officer Commanding Beitbridge Police District, Chief Superintendent Tichaona
Nyongo, said Moyo, infamously known in the district as Bony, was deported from SA
on June 26 only to find his crime dockets waiting for him.
Zimbabwean police and their colleagues in SA had been communicating about the
serial rapist’s activities prior to his arrest at a farm near the Venetia Mine in that
country.
He had been seen lurking around some compounds when guards pounced on him,
not even aware of his criminal exploits back home.
He faced mob justice before he was handed to Musina Police, who charged him for
contravention of the Immigration Act and deported him to Zimbabwe.
He was brought on June 26 and sent to court, where he was met with a sentence
almost twice his age," Nyongo said in an interview.
At the courts, Regional Magistrate Innocent Bepura sentenced Bony from Gukunze
area near Tongwe, to 74 years in jail for his criminal escapades, three of rape and
one unlawful entry committed between December 2022 and April this year.
He pleaded guilty to all the counts committed soon after his release from prison last
year after completion of a 30 months’ term for burglary in 2020.
Bepura set aside 17 years of the term for five years during which he is not expected
to commit similar offences when he comes out aged 87.
It was agreed that Moyo targeted women living alone. He attacked, raped and
robbed them of cash worth more than R20 000 and an assortment of valuables.
He threatened his victims with death before violating them and had been hugely
responsible for the numerous cases of rural to urban flights by women in the areas
he conducted his reign of terror.
At one time, he was reportedly living in the bushes feeding from water melons stolen
from fields and food from his sporadic raids on homes.
It was also believed that Moyo had briefly enjoyed protection from a respected
traditional leader, who is his maternal uncle.
Cheeky Moyo, at the height of his reign terror, posted self-done videos boasting he
was untouchable. It is no surprise that his arrest was celebrated across Beitbridge.
Tsitsi Mutukwa prosecuted.
