Zanu-PF Hwange district chairman not guilty of rape

ZANU-PF chairman for Hwange District Coordinating Committee Cde Mathew Muleya has been found not guilty and acquitted of charges of raping a Zimbabwe Republic Police Band member.

Cde Muleya had been arrested and appeared at the Harare magistrates’ courts alongside the band supervisor Cuthbert Gwidi.

It was alleged that in 2018, the ZRP Police Band performed at a Zanu-PF fundraising dinner where Muleya was a delegate and after the event, the band members were dismissed to go home but Gwidi allegedly later called the complainant back to the hotel and left her with Cde Muleya who then allegedly raped her twice.

The court heard that the woman discovered that she was infected with a sexually transmitted disease three days later.

The state led evidence from four witnesses being the complainant, two band members and the complainant’s husband.

The complainant claimed Cde Muleya had sexual intercourse without her consent and that Gwidi would regularly abuse her and they had sexual intercourse several times, after performances at other venues.

The complainant told court she was given US$5 as taxi fare after being raped and she alleged she contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

She said Gwidi slept with her on several occasions in exchange for favours and sometimes against her own will, with the threat of losing her job and the converse promise for assistance in retaining her job.

Through their lawyer Mr Givemore Mvhiringi of Mvhiringi and Associates, Cde Muleya and Gwidi applied for discharge at the close of the State case in terms of section 198 (3) of the Criminal Procedure and evidence Act.

A defence of an alibi was raised in that there was no Congress in 2018, neither was there any fundraising dinner and this was corroborated by all the other three state witnesses.

Harare regional magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje ruled that there was no incriminating evidence against the two as the evidence of the complainant was not dependable.

The court established that there was no Zanu-PF Congress in 2018, and the police band never performed at Rainbow Towers in that year.

To her husband, the complainant had claimed she was raped somewhere in Matabeleland North.

“The witness testimonies are marred with inconsistencies and evidence adduced on behalf of the State is so manifestly unreliable that no reasonable court could safely act upon it. The evidence by the first witness was further contradicted by all the other state witnesses, diminishing its probative value.

“This shows that the charges are based on a clear fabrication and the evidence adduced on behalf of the State is so manifestly unreliable and the court cannot reasonably and safely act upon it.

“The first state witness is not a competent and credible witness given her own confession to lying several times and further contradicting herself on oath. As a general rule it is undesirable to rely solely and entirely on the evidence of the complainant,” said the magistrate.

The court said the State therefore failed to establish evidence favourable to it from its own witnesses and opening the defence case would only mean that the State would be seeking to rely on cross examining the accused persons on their own defence.

The magistrate said the evidence was manifestly unreliable that no reasonable court could safely act upon it, as it was a clear fabrication with malicious intent, evidenced by contradictory and inconsistent statements between the state witnesses.

The magistrate granted the accused persons prayer for discharge and acquittal at the close of the State case and set them free.