Zvikomborero Parafini
AFTER spending SIX MONTHS in jail for a crime he did not commit, a former business development manager at Old Mutual is now a FREE MAN.
Musa Nyasha Dube Manyika has been acquitted by the High Court after it quashed his conviction, on two counts of rape, and a 15-year prison sentence.
Manyika was found guilty on two counts of rape by a Harare magistrate in March this year.
He was found guilty of raping a 24-year-old female intern at the firm, who was a UZ student.
Manyika was represented by Advocate Lewis Uriri, Admire Rubaya and Norman Chimuka.
A High Court bench, comprising Justices Isaac Muzenda, Davison Foroma, and Godfrey Musariri, set aside the ruling by the magistrate after identifying severe procedural flaws in the trial court.
The judges said the magistrate’s court failed to maintain an adequate record of the proceedings and cited gross irregularities that rendered the original conviction invalid.
Manyika, who denied the allegations and insisted that the two were in a normal consensual relationship, saw his world collapse around him in March when he was found guilty on two counts of rape and jailed for 15 years.
The magistrate ruled that the prosecution’s case, built on allegations that he first raped the UZ student in November 2022, had substance.
The allegations were that the 24-year-old student received a WhatsApp message from Manyika, asking her to come to Old Mutual Gardens to assist with packing banners. Upon her arrival, she went to the basement, where the banners were stored.
After completing the task, Manyika allegedly lured the student to his office, locked the door, and allegedly raped her.
The second incident was said to have taken place on June 19, 2024, when Manyika contacted the complainant again.
This time, it was said they met at Ashbrittle Shops, where Manyika, who also was in charge of overseeing the Old Mutual Scholarship programme, invited the complainant into his car.
The magistrate ruled that he raped the student.
However, the High Court disagreed with the ruling of the lower court and found that the record contained irreconcilable discrepancies.
Manyika’s conviction was set aside and the High Court ruled that he should be released from prison with immediate effect.
One of the questions raised by the defence was about why she did not scream for help when she saw security guards when she was raped?
Another of the holes, in her case, which was picked by the defence, was that she did not identify Manyika as the person who raped her, according to the court papers, and only spoke about being sick.
The court papers show that she also visited the UZ clinic seeking treatment for vaginal discharge.
“The complainant did not tell the doctor who had allegedly raped her, where exactly she was when she was allegedly raped, the time that the offence allegedly took place (or) how the alleged rape took place,” the defence argued.
In their appeal, the defence also questioned the delay in reporting the allegations.
