BULAWAYO – Tredgold Regional Magistrates Court, Bulawayo, on Friday sentenced Prosper Bhule (30), a serial rapist to 232 years in jail after he was charged with 18 counts of rape.
According to a statement released by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Bhule terrorised teenage girls in Bulawayo aged between 13 and 19 from 2018 December to March 2022.
He is accused of targeting the girls when they were alone at home or on the way to school or on an errand.
“He lured them from the security of their homes by saying that he had been sent to advise the girls that their parents, guardians or relatives had sent them some parcels or groceries from South Africa or vegetables from the local market.
“He would insist that the girls must go to the collection point with him to get the parcels.
“He lied so convincingly that his victims followed him to the said collection point. He took the victims through a bushy area where he would threaten them with an okapi knife, kick them with booted feet and assault them with fists before raping them. He also robbed the victims of their cellphones,” the NPA noted.
It is further reported that all the victims made a report to the nearest police station soon after being raped. This, according to the State, helped the police to quickly apprehend the accused.
“The prompt reports and description given by the victims helped the police to realise that they were dealing with a sophisticated criminal who premeditated his crimes.
“He gathered information about the victims and the frequency with which they were likely to receive parcels, groceries etc from relatives and used the information to commit his crimes.
“A manhunt was successfully coordinated by CID Homicide leading to the accused person’s arrest,” the NPA added.
