YOUNG boys undergoing initiation for Nyau (zvigure) dancing
are sometimes sodomised as punishment if they fail the test or misbehave during
training, a Chivhu court heard on Friday.
This was revealed by one of the leaders of a Nyau dancing
group in Beatrice who was arraigned before the courts for sodomising two boys
aged 11 during a training session.
The Nyau dancer (29), who cannot be named to protect the
identities of the minors, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for aggravated
indecent assault on his own plea before Chivhu regional magistrate Fadzai
Mtombeni.
He indecently abused the minors while their peers watched. In mitigation, the convict told the court that he did not
know that it was a crime since it was the norm at their training shrine to
punish for incompetence with sodomy.
He said the victims consented to the assault because they
were aware of the “rule”.
On passing sentence, Mtombeni said the convict did not only
traumatise the boys by committing the offence while they were watching, but had
actually taught them the criminal activity.
It was the State’s case that on May 2, 2020, at Didcort Farm
in Beatrice, two minors went to a forest for their routine training for Nyau
dancing.
When they were putting on their dancing regalia, the
convict took them further into the bush where he had anal sex with them in
turns.
Later that day, one of the boys told his aunt what had
happened in the bush. The matter was reported to the police, leading to the
convict’s arrest.
Audrey Mpini appeared for the State. Newsday
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