A ZANU PF central committee member yesterday appeared before the courts facing allegations of raping his sister-in-law.
by STEPHEN CHADENGA
Saviors Piki (46), a ruling party central committee member from Chirumanzu, appeared before Gweru regional magistrate Morgan Nemadire facing two counts of rape.
The State alleges that Piki raped his wife’s younger sister in January 2015, when the complainant was aged 16 years.
Piki, however, denied the rape charges and alleged that the complainant raised the charges against him to draw his sympathy after she had been confronted by her other sister in Harare over a high phone bill last year.
He said he used to stay with the complainant at Chaka in Chirumanzu and that she left in January 2015 to stay with her other sister in Harare.
Piki said the rape charges only arose in April 2016 following the issue of the phone bill.
But the complainant said she told her sister (accused’s wife) about the rape, but that she (sister) swept the matter under the carpet and said it was not supposed to be reported.
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She said she only raised the issue last year after the phone bill matter as she felt let down by her relative (accused’s wife) who failed to stand by her when she informed her about her rape ordeal.
The matter was postponed to May 10 after the magistrate indicated the court wanted the accused’s wife to testify in court.
The court heard that sometime in January 2015 at Chaka business centre in Chirumanzu, the accused’s wife asked the complainant to clean her bedroom.
When the complainant was cleaning the room, the accused entered, locked the door and demanded sex from her, saying she was spending his money yet would at the end get married to another man.
After the complainant turned down his advances, the accused allegedly pushed her onto the bed and raped her once before threatening her if she told anyone.
The complainant allegedly told her sister, but she did not take any action.
The State further alleges that on another date in January 2015, the accused asked the complainant to accompany him and his children to his plot in Mvuma.
At the plot, the accused’s workers went to work in the fields leaving the complainant at home.
The complainant decided to take a bath in the tub and that is when the accused entered the bathroom, lifted her up before throwing her into the spare bedroom where he allegedly raped her.
After the complainant again told her sister, she took no action resulting in the complainant requesting to move to Harare to stay with her other sister.
While in Harare, in April 2016, the complainant was reprimanded by her sister over a high phone bill and she left a suicide note narrating how the accused had raped her. She had found a source of comfort in her new boyfriend, whom she spent most of the time phoning, before attempting to kill herself by drinking a pesticide.
The matter was then reported to the police, leading to the accused’s arrest.
