adminLeonard Ncube Senior Court Reporter
A NOCTURNAL visit to a boyfriend’s place turned nasty for a Madlambuzi woman after a knife-wielding 55-year-old widower waylaid and raped her twice.
The woman, whose identity cannot be revealed, was employed as a maid and would visit her boyfriend for sleepovers.On August 13, 2013, the 25-year-old woman was unlucky as Maneyi Ncube dragged her to his homestead where he raped her twice.
Bulawayo regional magistrate Crispen Mberewere convicted Ncube on two counts of rape and sentenced him to 13 years in jail. He will, however, serve an effective nine years following the suspension of four years on condition he does not in the next five years commit a similar crime.
Prosecuting, Tinashe Dzipe, said the woman was on her way to her boyfriend’s place at about 10PM when Ncube spotted her from a distance. The woman tried to flee when she noticed that somebody was approaching her.
Ncube gave chase and caught up with the woman. The court heard that Ncube grabbed the victim by her throat as she lay on the ground and drew a knife.
He threatened to cut her throat if she resisted his orders before force-marching her to his homestead.
On arrival, the court heard that Ncube spread his shirt on the floor and laid the woman on it before he went on to rape her twice. In his defence, Ncube said he chased after the woman because he suspected that she was a witch.
He said he only let go of her after noticing that she was harmless. The magistrate would not buy his story, noting that there was enough evidence linking Ncube to the crime. Ncube was arrested the following day after the woman narrated her ordeal to her relatives who then assisted her file a police report.
derick.khumalo