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Martha Leboho Masvingo Correspondent
The serial rapist from Chivi, who on Tuesday begged the court to hang him for his heinous acts, has been sentenced to an effective 72 years in jail. Regional magistrate Mrs Dambudzo Malunga had sentenced Charles Magombedze of Chikova Village in Madzivire communal lands to 78 years in prison, but conditionally suspended six years.

Magombedze was convicted on eight counts of rape on his own plea of guilty.
He shocked the court when he requested the hangman’s noose, saying he was unable to exorcise the evil spirit that led him into committing the crimes if left alive.

Mrs Malunga treated some of the cases as one for the purposes of sentencing.
She said Magombedze deserved severe punishment as he behaved like a beast when he raped the victims.
Mrs Malunga said by using dangerous weapons like iron bars, axes and machetes when he committed the offences, Magombedze had proved beyond doubt that he was a hardcore criminal.

In aggravation, the prosecutor Mrs Mukai Mutumhe had pleaded with the court to impose a 20-year-jail term for each rape count.

Magombedze raped a woman in Chitembe Village in Madzivire before abusing a pupil at Chibaya High School near Bondolfi Mission in June last year.

In the same month, he raped another woman who was doing laundry along Tugwi River in Chivi.
In October the same year, Magombedze raped another woman who was going to church at Nyambi Village near Mhiti Business Centre in Chivi.

He raped a police constabulary’s wife at Jochomi Village in Madyangove communal lands.
Magombedze then raped a 14- year-old girl, who was herding cattle along Tugwi River in January this year.
He raped another woman after waylaying her at Charumbira Farm near Bhuka business centre in Masvingo Rural District.
In the same month, Magombedze raped a child he found sleeping in a hut at Jeka Village in Masvingo Rural District.

Magombedze raped another woman after threatening her near Stephen business centre along the Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway.

He also abused a woman in a garden at Rukanda Farm in the same month after hitting her with a brick.
Magombedze raped another woman whom he found in a garden along Tugwi River.
The serial rapist also handcuffed and raped another woman at Shokoni Business Centre in Chivi.

He raped another one at Razi Business Centre in the same district while she was coming from hospital.
Magombedze faces several charges of unlawful entry and theft after he allegedly entered a house at Chikova Village in Chivi and stole an amplifier and groceries.

He allegedly led police to a mountain in the village where they recovered the items.
Magombedze also faces attempted murder charges after stabbing a woman five times whom she failed to rape after she managed to flee.

On his initial appearance in court on Tuesday, Magombedze said he was a member of a Satanic cult whose goal was to spill blood and to have unprotected sex to breed another Satanic generation.