Online Reporter
Zvikomborero Parafini
GRUESOME details emerged in court yesterday as self-styled faith healer Madzibaba Gathry Chirodzero, who is facing rape charges, took the witness stand to testify in his defence.
Chirodzero is accused of rape of a minor, while his wife Diana Chauke (37), and the complainant’s biological mother (45) are appearing as accomplices in the case.
Chirodzero maintained his defence outline that he was introduced to the complainant’s family through a neighbour who was seeking spiritual help for the complainant’s sister, who was mentally disturbed.
He told the court that he prayed for the sister using a water plant he referred to as garadziva, which he asked the family to bathe with on several occasions at his house.
Prosecutor Tracy Mundanga pressed Chirodzero, suggesting what she termed a calculated motive to disarm the family by making the complainant’s brother mentally unstable.
“You had a motive to make the brother insane because when he set foot at your house he was okay, and you made him mad,” Ms Mundanga said.
“The mother was surprised to hear that her son was insane. You made him mad in order to disarm the mother and her children so that you could rape the complainant.”
The prosecutor further accused Chirodzero of fabricating his defence.
“Your desire to sleep with the child was out of cruelty. They do not owe you anything, as you want this court to believe. It is a cooked-up story.”
Chirodzero, however, maintained that he never raped the child and insisted that the family had made up false allegations against him because they had failed to pay the money he had charged them to heal their daughter.
The child’s mother, who is the third accused person in the case, was also given a chance to cross-examine Chirodzero and gave her account of what transpired.
“You used a bottle to cut up my daughter and you put the blood in a bottle before you sat on her and started slapping her,” she alleged.
“I put it to you that you sent your wife to call my daughter and told her that you had resolved to have sex with her for her siblings to be healed.
“Initially, you asked me to look for someone to sleep with my child for the problem to end. After your insistence, I ended up saying I was going to look for someone to sleep with my child in a bid to stop you from asking me that.
“Your wife said I was delaying the healing process by going to look for the person when you were there, and you supported her. Is that not true?” she asked.
Chirodzero denied the claims.
The mother further put it to him that he instilled fear in her, and that his wife brought a gun which he placed under the couch.
“Is it not true that you said you were going to kill me because I was refusing to allow you to sleep with my child, and you pointed the gun at me? That is when I said you could do whatever you wanted as I feared for my life,” she added.
She further quizzed him on whether his wife had said it was acceptable for him to spend the night with the child in their matrimonial bed, where he allegedly raped the child, while the wife slept in another bedroom.
Chirodzero continually denied the assertions and told the court that he does not own a gun.
His wife, Diana Chauke, also took the stand in her defence and presented her version of events.
She told the court that on the day in question, she went to sleep earlier than usual and her reasons for not sleeping in her bed were different from the State’s claims.
“I went to sleep earlier than them, and I didn’t sleep in our matrimonial bedroom as I was on my period. I am regarded as unclean and cannot share a bed with the healer,” she said.
Ms Mundanga questioned her on that, asking whether she had assisted her husband to rape the child, given that she was considered unclean. Chauke denied the claim.
Chauke told the court that her son came to the room where she was sleeping and told her that he had seen his father and the complainant in the bedroom.
“When my son came to tell me, I went to the bedroom and found the complainant sleeping on her own.”
She told the court that she then offered the complainant fresh underwear, a move which prosecutor Ms Mundanga construed as an act to conceal evidence.
Chauke denied this.
“You didn’t ask the child what had happened to her because you knew what had happened. You had sent her to that room and you are pulling your child into this case when you knew that you assisted your husband by taking the gun to threaten them,” Ms Mundanga said.
“You took the complainant to his lap, and you told her that she was now your husband’s wife.
“The following morning, when your husband wasn’t done, he asked to do it again. When she refused, you were called in to make it happen, and you did as you were told. You made sure that she obliged, and she was raped for the second time,” Ms Mundanga said.
Chauke denied the allegations.
The trial is expected to resume on July 30.
