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‘Rape pastor’ Gumbura bail revoked

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SUSPECTED “serial rapist”, pastor and RTG Independent End Time Message Church founder Robert Martin Gumbura, who was on Monday this week granted bail by the High Court before being hauled back into custody over two more fresh rape charges, had his bail revoked by the same court after the State made a U-turn withholding its earlier consent.

CHARLES LAITON

SUSPECTED “serial rapist”, pastor and RTG Independent End Time Message Church founder Robert Martin Gumbura, who was on Monday this week granted bail by the High Court before being hauled back into custody over two more fresh rape charges, had his bail revoked by the same court after the State made a U-turn withholding its earlier consent.

The man of the cloth, who recently made headlines after several female members of his church filed rape charges against him, breathed a brief sigh of relief earlier this week after the Prosecutor-General (PG)’s Office hinted the State case was weak and consented to his granting of bail.

But immediately after being thrown a lifeline, more allegations emerged leading to his re-arrest and detention.

Yesterday, PG’s representative Edmore Nyazamba urged High Court judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi to revoke Gumbura’s bail citing new and incriminating evidence that had since been brought up by police.

Justice Mathonsi in turn revoked Gumbura’s bail and advised him to make a fresh bail application after December 9 this year.

Gumbura, who now faces a total of eight counts of rape, is being represented by Harare lawyer Emmanuel Samundombe.

In respect of the fresh charges, Gumbura is alleged to have raped two women aged 17 and 28 between 2002 and 2012 respectively after pretending to be a “Good Samaritan” to the pair on different occasions.

Upon his arrest last month, Gumbura was allegedly found in possession of sex-enhancing drugs and pornographic material in his bedroom.

Police also recovered video recordings where Gumbura allegedly conducted sermons cursing the people who had reported him to the police and “putting them in the hands of the devil for them to get killed”.

Gumbura (57) is being charged alongside Tendai Ganyani (24).