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Masvingo Correspondent
A 26-year-old inmate at Mutimurefu Prison here has been slapped with an effective seven years in jail for sodomising another prisoner.

Elias Chikomo, who is serving a prison sentence for robbery, appeared before Masvingo regional magistrate Mrs Dambudzo Malunga last week on sodomy charges. The court heard that Chikomo took advantage of darkness to sodomise his counterpart on numerous occasions. Mrs Malunga sentenced Chikomo to 10 years of imprisonment with hard labour, before suspending three years.

Effectively, Chikomo would languish in prison for the next seven years.

Mrs Malunga told the court that Chikomo was a “dangerous prison inmate”, considering that he committed the offence while serving a jail term for another case.

It was not immediately clear how long his jail term for robbery was.

Prosecutor Richard Nyamuomba told the court that Chikomo, who was literally appointed “prison staff” with responsibilities to instil discipline among other prisoners in cells, usually woke up at midnight to carry out his routine duties of ensuring that there was silence and discipline among the inmates.

Chikomo took advantage of power blackouts to sodomise his victim.

James Nkosana (23), a State witness, narrated the matter before the court.

A report was made to the prison officers by other inmates, leading to the arrest of Chikomo.