Zim lawyer jailed in UK

26 Jan, 2020 - 00:01 0 Views
Zim lawyer jailed in UK

The Sunday News

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter 

A Zimbabwean lawyer, Wilfred Marodza (28) has been sentenced to 14 years in prison in the United Kingdom after he kidnapped and repeatedly raped a woman who was out celebrating her graduation before attempting to rape a partially visually impaired woman an hour later. 

The incidents occurred after the lawyer had spent a night out celebrating his birthday on 19 July last year. 

Marodza pleaded guilty to four counts of rape, one count of kidnap and another of committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence when he appeared at the London Inner Crown Court recently. 

The court heard that after one of the attacks, Marodza reportedly dropped a  bag containing his particulars and papers from cases that he had been working on. That, alongside CCTV footage, led to his arrest. 

The court heard that Marodza stalked his first victim (21) in the wee hours of the morning in the streets of Borough, London, as she walked home from a pub where she had been celebrating her graduation. 

The lawyer violently dragged her to a park where he forced her to strip before raping her three times. According to court records, he had told her, “I’m going to have to bury you now,” after raping her for the third. The victim then managed to break free from Marodza before fleeing while he pursued her through the streets. She eventually sought refuge in a passing taxi. 

Marodza was on the prowl again an hour later, pretending to befriend a partially visually impaired woman (25) that he had targeted as his next victim. After also trying to drag her to the park, she managed to break free after she screamed, forcing him to flee. 

Afterwards, police discovered the bag with his personal and professional details near the scene of his first attack.  Before the two incidents, Marodza had been ejected from the N1 bar in London Bridge after he was deemed to be drunk, disorderly and behaving inappropriately towards women. 

“He was described by door staff as having an attitude, harassing and aggravating people”, prosecutor Mr Edward Lucas who was quoted in the British media, also added that Marodza was spotted grabbing the bottom of a woman who refused to give him her phone number.

“Security staff described him as arguing, boasting to them about how much he had earned in the last week.”

Marodza, a Zimbabwean from Eastbourne in East Sussex, graduated from Kent University with a law degree in 2012 but struggled for five years to find employment, working in a bar to make ends meet. 

He told a psychologist he had an unhappy childhood separated from his mother from the ages of four to 11, and he had pursued a career in law that he disliked in order to please her.

In a letter to the court Marodza apologised and accepted he had caused “unimaginable horror, pain and sorrow to the victims, their families and friends”. He said he is “bitterly sorry” for the attacks and added: “My actions were evil”.

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds