adminFungai Lupande Harare Bureau
A BID for discharge by two touts accused of stripping a woman at a bus terminus in Harare on Friday hit a snag after the court ruled that the pair has a case to answer.
Marvellous Kandemiri, 32, and Blessing Chinodakufa, 31, allegedly harassed the woman at Simon Vengai Muzenda Street (formerly Fourth Street) rank.
In her ruling Harare magistrate Renika Dzikiti told the court that the totality of the evidence shows that the accused were not only present at the crime scene but actually interacted with the woman.
“Evidence wasn’t only limited to the three minutes of the video footage,” she said.
The matter proceeds to the defence case on March 10.
The magistrate’s ruling was consistent with State’s submissions that other things which happened to the woman were not captured in the video.
The prosecutor Kudzayi Chigwedere told the court that only the woman is competent to tell the court how the incident happened.
Chigwedere’s submissions were a response to defence lawyer Nathaniel Chogoro’s application for discharge on the basis that the woman’s evidence was “unreliable” because she was confused.
Chigwedere added that when the woman arrived at the bus terminus, a man wearing a grey t-shirt and a pair of jeans, identified only as Kandemiri, called her but she ignored him.
“At that stage no one at the rank was interested in her. Kandemiri was the first to call her a prostitute, attracting the attention of other touts.
“At this stage of the incident the woman was composed and identified her caller, she wasn’t yet confused,” she said.
Furthermore Chigwedere added that if it was not for Kandemiri who called the woman, the incident would not have happened.
“Chinodakufa is the one who lifted the woman’s dress exposing her panties and tearing the under garment.
“Both accused have a case to answer and must be put to their defence,” she said.
Chigwedere alleged that the incident happened on December 17 last year.
The woman was on her way to Ruwa and although she made efforts to cover herself up, the accused persons continued pulling her dress up to her waist and lowering her panties.
The court heard that the woman tried to escape into a parked commuter omnibus, but she was pulled out and she fell to the ground.
The woman managed to flee into another commuter omnibus where the driver and the conductor asked her to pay $2 so that they could take her away from the scene.
The offence came to light after a video captured while the woman was being tormented went viral on social media networks.
Bongani Moyo
Online Reporter