daniel chigunwe
Soul Mauruka in Masvingo
A 27-year-old Bikita woman has been cleared of rape by a Masvingo magistrate after the court ruled that her ashamed teenage lover had cooked up rape charges against her.
Melania Masuka of Musavengana Village was acquitted of rape by Masvingo magistrate Mr Bishard Chineka after it emerged that the woman was in love with her 19-year-old rape accuser.
Mr Chineka freed the accused after noting inconsistencies in the testimony by the complainant.
This was after the woman proved to the court that the two were in fact lovers and had been intimate using protection several times but the complainant only later on got ashamed that he was dating a woman older than him.
It also emerged during cross examination that the complainant’s mother was the one who pressurised her son to make a false report to the police.
Allegations against the woman were that on October 26 last year while he was looking for cattle she met the complainant who was looking for cattle.
She was accused to have sprayed the complainant with an unknown substance prompting him to feel dizzy.
The woman was then alleged to have dragged the complainant about 100 metres away to an abandoned building where she reportedly forced herself on him and threatened to kill him if he reported to anyone.
A police report was made two months later after the complainant fell sick and lied to his mother that he had been raped. Mr Liberty Hove appeared for the State.
Online Reporter