Man denied bail after 20-year sentence for sexually assaulting two boys

A man sentenced to an effective 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting two boys aged nine and 12 has been denied bail pending appeal after the High Court found that his chances of overturning the convictions were poor.

Ngonidzashe Matsika had been convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault after the court found that he sexually abused a nine-year-old boy once and a 12-year-old boy twice.

Justice Neville Wamambo, sitting at the Harare High Court, dismissed Matsika’s application for bail pending appeal on August 25, 2026, saying the seriousness of the offences, the long prison term and the absence of prospects of success on appeal weighed against his release.

The three sentences of 20 years each had been ordered to run concurrently. Matsika is appealing against his convictions but not the sentence.

The court heard that Matsika and the two complainants knew each other because they attended the same church.

According to findings by the lower court, the offences occurred between October and December 2025 but were only disclosed in April 2026.

The lower court found that Matsika would take the boys to his home, where he allegedly made them watch pornographic videos, smoke drugs and sexually assaulted them.

Wamambo said she had closely examined the evidence and the lower court’s judgment before determining whether Matsika had reasonable prospects of success on appeal.

“I find that the complainant’s evidence was indeed credible, while applicant was not a consistent witness,” she said.

The judge said the lower court had been impressed by the credibility of the two complainants and had found that their accounts corroborated each other.

The court also rejected arguments that differences in their testimonies undermined the convictions, finding that the sequence of events was not significant.

The lower court further found it unlikely that the two boys could have fabricated such serious allegations and adopted the same account of the alleged assaults.

Wamambo noted that the lower court had also accepted the medical reports as corroborative evidence and rejected Matsika’s alibi after finding that he had not raised it with police during investigations.

The lower court also rejected a suggestion that the allegations had been fabricated in conjunction with church leaders.

“It would follow therefrom that the injuries seen by the health personnel and presented before the court a quo were self or otherwise inflicted just to implicate the applicant,” Wamambo said, summarising the lower court’s finding.

She said the similarities in the boys’ accounts were significant.

“That two minor males would relate to the offences in the same manner establishing applicant’s modus operandi including watching pornographic videos is not a coincidence,” she said.

Matsika had argued that the State failed to prove the offences beyond reasonable doubt and questioned why two medical reports had not been compiled in light of the oral evidence.

But the judge found that his prospects of success on appeal were not sufficient to justify bail.

She also found a risk of abscondment, noting that the case involved two young complainants and offences of a “grave nature”.

“The long imprisonment term of 20 years is long enough to induce abscondment,” Wamambo said.

The judge also said there was no significant delay expected in hearing the appeal, with appeals being set down expeditiously and virtually no backlog.

She cited an earlier High Court decision which held that bail after conviction is not a fundamental constitutional right, but a limited remedy provided for under the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.

“In the circumstances, prospects of success on appeal are not present. The application has no merit,” Wamambo ruled.

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