RELATIVES of an alleged Old Lobengula rape victim took a man to court after he failed to pay $3 200 they had demanded as compensation.
SILAS NKALA STAFF REPORTER
This was said by Bulawayo Regional Court magistrate Sikhumbuzo Nyathi while giving judgment in a rape case against Tapfumaneyi Muzarabani (37) of Old Lobengula yesterday. Nyathi acquitted Muzarabani. Muzarabani had been accused of raping his friend’s girlfriend last year.
Her grandmother had told the court that the alleged victim was 17, but Muzarabani’s lawyer Costa Dube accused her of misrepresenting her granddaughter’s age so that she could represent her as a juvenile when in actual fact she was an adult.
In his ruling Nyathi said Muzarabani had pleaded not guilty to the charge and indicated that the sexual act was consensual.
He said on the day in question Muzarabani and one Mthulisi Ndlovu had asked the woman to accompany them to a certain house. Muzarabani and the woman were later left alone after all other house occupants went away.
That is when the girl claimed Muzarabani raped her without protection.
The magistrate said in his defence, Muzarabani indicated that after the sexual act the complainant reported the matter to the police fearing that her boyfriend and grandmother would later find out.
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“Complainant reported the matter the following morning to her grandmother and a report was made to the police,” he said.
“The complainant had earlier withdrawn the case in court before plea and the charges were only reinstated after her grandmother intervened. There have been talks between the two families and it seems that the accused’s family was supposed to pay $3 200, which they were charged as compensation to complainant.”
Nyathi said the woman had indicated that the reinstatement of the charge was not her idea.
“She also destroyed her evidence when she said she no longer had the (pair of) trousers which she claimed was torn by accused and the clothes, which she said were blood-stained after she was raped. Her grandmother also misrepresented to the police claiming the complainant was 17 yet on the day (of the alleged rape) there were only two months before 19th birthday.
“It is clear that evidence needed in court to convict accused must be of high quality and therefore it is easy to acquit a person who committed an offence than to convict an innocent person.
“There has been a cocktail of contradictory evidence, which instils doubt to the court and this is obviously in favour of the accused. I do not find enough evidence to convict accused and accordingly, I find you not guilty and acquit you.”
Prosecutor Masimba Saruaka told the court that on October 26 2013 at around 5pm, Muzarabani and Ndlovu went to the complainant’s residence before taking her to a house in Old Lobengula.
While at the house, the State said Muzarabani and the woman were left alone by other occupants and he allegedly raped her after she had tried to resist his sexual advances.
She later went home where she phoned her boyfriend in South Africa telling him of the alleged rape.
