HARARE - A Harare man will spend a year behind bars after a magistrate found him guilty for piracy.

Magistrate Anita Tshuma sentenced Solomon Mbadzo to two years before suspending a year on condition of good behaviour for the next five years.

In passing sentence, Tshuma said piracy was unique in that it dealt with intellectual property, that is, taking someone’s music and claiming ownership.

“Musicians are suffering everyday, composing their songs but they are not getting anything because of people like you,” Tshuma said.

The court heard Mbadzo approached Proud Majora who is a technician at Heshi Mfeshi Records in February this year and introduced himself as representative of AFM’s music project.

He then requested Majora to duplicate and surface print his music into CD’s from the master copy he was in possession of.

The CD was titled New Generation Praise Team UZ Hymns but contained Clive Barangiro’s songs.

Majora went on to produce the required 200 copies on behalf of Mbadzo and handed them over to him.

The offence came to light when Barangiro heard his music being played in the street. Upon requesting to see the CD, he found that it contained his 15 songs but was bearing the name of a different artist. - Helen Kadirire