adminMidlands Reporter
Two street kids were yesterday arraigned before the courts after they allegedly raped and robbed a woman in Gweru.
The two, a minor aged 17 and Taurai Chigavakava, 18, who have no known address, pleaded not guilty when they appeared before magistrate Sithembiso Ncube.
Ncube remanded them in custody to 11 July for trial.
For the state Terrance Mufarinya told the court that on June 23 at around 6AM the complainant, a 38-year-old woman who resides in Riverside, was on her way home from town.
She decided to use a pathway that passes through a bushy area that serves as a shortcut to Riverside.
The two accused were allegedly using the same path, coming from the opposite direction.
They grabbed the her and dragged her to a bushy area away from the main path and robbed her of her Nokia Asha cellphone and $1 that she had.
The court also heard that after robbing her, the two vagabonds went on to take turns to rape her. They are said to have threatened to kill her if she screamed.
Mufarinya told the court that the accused, immediately fled into the bush soon after raping their victim. The complainant managed to crawl back to the road where she was eventually assisted to the police, the court heard.
Some time later, the complainant managed to identify the alleged rapists in town by chance and informed the police leading to the two’s arrest.
However, the vagabonds deny the charges.
They said they initially admitted to raping the woman because they wanted to save themselves the agony of police torture.
“We admitted the charge at the police station because we were beaten and to save ourselves from more beatings we just decided to admit to a crime that we knew nothing about. We are not responsible for this crime,” said the 17-year-old.
They declined to have medical examinations carried out on them saying that the bruises they suffered were not that bad.
Online Reporter