Insiza man (24) stuffs cloth in woman’s mouth, sexually attacks her

A MAN from Insiza District who grabbed a 22-year-old woman and stuffed a cloth into her mouth before sexually attacking her has appeared in court and found guilty.

Ramadan Dube (24) from Fort Rixon in Matabeleland South Province appeared in court on Monday before Bulawayo Regional Magistrate Ms Sibonginkosi Mkandla charged with rape.

In his defence he told the court that he was in a love affair with the victim.

“On the day in question I took her from her home and went to my home where we engaged in sex. After that I accompanied her to her home. We were in love and we had been in love for three weeks,” he said.

At the conclusion of the trial Ms Mkandla found him guilty.

“You told this court that you were in love for three weeks but your wife in her testimony told this court that you were in love for six weeks,” Ms Mkandla said.

“This shows that it was an afterthought as you tried to defend yourself.”

Ms Mkandla also said the offender said he had WhatsApp messages to prove that they were in love but he failed to produce them. She further said the complainant had timeously reported the rape incident.

“At law a rape incident has to be reported early and that is what she did. In her testimony her sister told this court that when the victim arrived at home her dress was soiled and she is a 22-year-old woman and there is no reason to hide her love affair and there was no reason to fabricate the story,” she said.

In aggravation Ms Tsungai Charmaine Mutapi said: “Rape is a serious offence and he committed the offence in a violent manner. He was supposed to protect her but he chose to sexually violate her. The State prays for a custodial sentence.”

The matter was postponed to Wednesday, 16 September for sentencing. Prosecuting, Ms Mutapi said the incident occurred last month on 11 August at around 5PM at Shangani Mine.

“While the victim was fetching firewood in a bushy area the offender approached her and grabbed her before stuffing a cloth into her mouth and violently pushed her to the ground and raped her,” she said.

After that the victim went to her home and reported the incident to her sister. The matter was subsequently reported to the police leading to the arrest of the offender.