Suspects acquitted

By Wenceslaus Murape
A Marondera magistrate on Tuesday acquitted five people on charges of raping a nine-year-old girl.
The five include the girl’s aunt and maternal grandmother and a policeman, who had allegedly for-ced the girl into prostitution when she was six-years-old.
It had been alleged that the girl was forced to sleep with at least 17 men between 2007 and 2009 in exchange for money and food.
The girl had also said she had been plied with alcohol and toba-cco.
Marondera regional magistrate Ms Gladys Pise acquitted Douglas Garikai, Pedzisai and Edmore Hwindingwi and the granny and aunt – who were represented by Mr Batanai Pesanai of IEG Musimbe and Partners – at the close of the State’s case.
Ms Pise said she found it suspicious that the complainant made the same statement concerning all the accused.
“Rape is a serious crime and evidence has to be factual, not based on assumptions, hence the need for careful analysis of evidence given by complainants, especially children.
“The State’s case must also be solid and evidence of the complai-nant must not only be comprehensive and convincing, but also reliable,” said Ms Pise.
She said the complainant’s memory was unreliable as she only remembered a handful of the 17 men alleged to have abused her.
Ms Pise pointed out that the court found it difficult to come up with the truth when the girl said she was first abused in 2007 when doing Grade 1, yet all the charges against the accused were from 2009.
“There were a lot of inconsistencies in the complainant’s evidence, and it couldn’t be the same in each and every case, like she was replaying a recorded statement.”
She asked how teachers at her school had failed to notice the abuse over the three years.
Ms Pise did not dispute medical evidence brought before the court, but castigated rushed investigations that had weakened the State’s case.
The doctor who examined the girl indicated her physical condition was consistent with prolonged sexual abuse.