Rape, torture and ‘dark rituals’ at bogus rehab

Michelle Musandinyoze and Lubelihle Moyo Lubelihle

A HAIR-RAISING tale of systematic rape, torture and sexual bondage has emerged in Bulawayo and the alleged perpetrator has gone on the run.

Norris Pikanegore (46) ran an unregistered rehabilitation centre for drug addicts in Bulawayo’s Emganwini suburb.
Habits Complex Rehabilitation Centre also doubled as a hair care and beauty therapy learning college, according to numerous adverts that Pikanegore flooded on mainstream media.

Patients paid US$150 for drug assessment blood tests which were never done while they forked out US$400 monthly for treatment.

A 17-year-old girl who escaped from the centre on 21 April blew the lid on sickening abuse that 31 people — 13 females and 18 males — whose ages range from 16 to 65 years were subjected to.

They told B-Metro Pikanegore kept them there under lock and key like prisoners and had debased them so much that some had lost the will to live.

He would allegedly rape the girls and pimp them out to businessmen in the city and would habitually assault everyone and force then to undergo “dark rituals” with a traditional healer.

The girls alleged Pikanegore arranged abortions for those who fell pregnant.

“He made everyone twerk and masturbate in a daily 2am ritual that he called ‘Spoko Night’ and he would collect our semen. As we danced to loud music, he would shout ‘F*ck you!’ and we were forced to say thank you sir, every-time,” said an inmate, recounting a scene reminiscent of the treatment of recruits by Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 Hollywood blockbuster The Full Metal Jacket.

Hartman was a ruthless, foul-mouthed drill instructor.

“We were forced to march. We were forced to twerk. He called it ritual therapy. If you stopped dancing, he would beat us up. We were also forced to bath with herbs that were given to us by his nyangas,” said a traumatised victim.

The news crew captured disturbing images of inmates with festering wounds on their backs, buttocks and legs; allegedly caused by daily beatings with a baton.

“He is just an evil, depraved, mean, cruel, sadistic monster,” one of the victims recounted.

Families told B-Metro how Pikanegore isolated patients, saying they should cut out all communication as it would make them backslide on therapy.

“He said my child had lost her phone and I could not speak to her for more than seven months,” said a parent whose daughter had been plucked from rural Lupane to learn hair dressing at the centre.

The Minister of Health and Child Care has since confirmed in a statement that the centre was unregistered.

“It is not licensed to operate as a health facility or rehabilitation centre. We urge the public to verify the accreditation of all health facilities before admission of patients,” read the statement.

The girl who escaped had a harrowing tale to tell.
She told B-Metro how Pikanegore habitually raped her and other girls.

“He would arrive at the centre, strip and instruct us to massage him, then he would take one of the girls into the bedroom and abuse her,” she said.

“He raped me one day when he sent one of the girls to call me into his bedroom at night. When I asked questions, he ordered me to keep quiet. Early in the morning, he raped me,” she said.

“I told him no. He tore my clothes and proceeded to sexually assault me, l could not scream because anytime anyone opposed him he would use that to beat everyone at the home.”

When it was over, Pikanegore sent her back to her room.

“He told me to go sleep. He said, ‘You’re healed now.’’”
When the girl developed a yeast infection, Pikanegore brought her medication.

“He took me to a house in Pelandaba one night where he threatened me with unspecified action ‘if I misbehaved.’”

“I had heard about this from other girls. I had been pimped to a businessman. He left me in the car and went into the house. I knew I could not go through with this. With my heart beating fast, I took a chance, opened the car door and ran out,” she said.

The girl said she ran to a filling station in the area where an attendant gave her a phone to call her mum.

Terrified, the woman quickly went to her daughter and they rushed to make a report to the police.

Police called Pikanegore and he disappeared.

“We lived like pigs in squalid conditions at a ‘residential fortress with big walls, razor-wire and guards,” said a journalism student at a local university, who was a patient at the centre.

“That man simply destroyed our spirits and will to fight. I think those bizarre rituals did something to us. We are now asking each other why we did not gang up to beat him up,” said the student.

When Pikanegore realised his game was up, took all the patients and learners to a house in Cowdray Park.

The owner of the property told B-Metro Pikanegore said he was going away on an emergency. It is suspected he may have fled to Zambia.

Police have confirmed he is wanted on multiple charges including rape, aggravated indecent assault, assault, extortion, and operating an unregistered health facility. They appealed to members of the public with information on Pikanegore’s whereabouts to contact their nearest police station.