By Newsdesk
Robert Martin Gumbura has died
Information says he succumbed to Covid-19 Saturday afternoon
He was the pastor of the RMG Independent End Time Message Church in Zimbabwe.
He was convicted of rape in 2014 and sentenced to prison.] As of 2021, he remains in prison pending appeals and an application for bail.
Conviction and sentencing
Gumbura was convicted of four counts of rape and one on possession of pornographic material.
Testimony at the trial alleged that he had claimed he had the right to have sexual intercourse with any woman in his congregation.
He was initially sentenced to 50 years in Chikurubi Prison, but 10 years were suspended from his sentence for good behavior, resulting in an expected sentence of 40 years.
His church was also suspended by Zimbabwe’s religious body, the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ).
On March 18, 2015, vice president and justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa told the Parliament of Zimbabwe that Gumbura was one of more than 100 inmates involved in the planning of a violent riot over food that broke out at the prison on March 13.