Sleazy CZ, my Zimbo buddy, forwards accounts of two cases from the Harare magistrates courts. State prosecutor Tinashe Kanyemba had a bad day yesterday, trying to get convictions on two (separate) charges of rape, brought in typically Zimbabwean circumstances.
In the first case, a nurse aide at Parirenyatwa Hospital was caught with her panties down, having sexual intercourse inside the hospital's morgue. [Cool! Ed.] No, she wasn't doing a stiff. Rather it was the stiffy of a mortuary attendant, who she accused of raping her after being caught in the act by a co-worker.
Harare magistrate Memory Chigwaza* acquitted the accused, finding that the sex act was consensual. "The complainant did not alert [the co-worker] about the sexual act," said the magistrate. "Instead, she combed her hair and arranged her clothing. It would appear the complainant consented to sexual intercourse and after she had been caught red-handed having sexual intercourse in the mortuary. This may have caused her to report rape out of shame as she was married, pregnant and with a child."
The magistrate wondered why the complainant did not scream to alert people, especially considering all this was happening in a hospital. The girl had testified that had she screamed no one would have come to her rescue as people would assume someone’s relative had died. But the magistrate found that "a cry for help for someone in danger is different from a cry for a deceased relative."
Since the complainant did not scream, the court believed the woman willingly got into the mortuary to have sexual intercourse. "If she had been raped, there was no reason for her to agree for compensation in order for her not to report to police. There was nothing for her to negotiate with a rapist."
The afternoon trial didn't go any better for Mr. Kanyemba. Here again, the complainant was caught with her panties down -- in her hands, actually -- at Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield. A man masquerading as a cop was also found naked from the waist down when real cops arrived on the scene.
The prosecutor told the court the accused had stalked the woman after she had parted ways with her boyfriend following a sexual encounter somewhere in the Mukuvisi woodlands. As the woman neared her home, the accused approached her, saying she was under arrest for having sexual intercourse at Mukuvisi.
He then allegedly ordered the woman to come with him to Machipisa Police Station. On the way, they passed through Zimbabwe Grounds, where the accused requested the woman to have sex with him, so as to be released without a charge.
But the woman refused, so -- she said -- the accused forced her to do the deed. Skepticism was accompanied by not a little laughter, however, when the complainant said she did not scream during the rape as she had already done so during sex with her boyfriend.
During the incident, the court heard, patrolling uniformed police passed by and allegedly caught the couple in flagrante. In his defence, the accused explained, "I asked if I could have sexual intercourse with her for a short time for a fee and she agreed. She asked where we would do it because she had a boyfriend and was afraid they would separate if he found out.
"She asked if I had a condom and I said yes. I wore a condom and she removed her underwear and we had sexual intercourse," he said. Unfortunately, he added, the police arrived before he had settled the bill, and the woman turned against him when the police threatened to detain both of them for loitering. The trial continues next week.
* Zimbabweans have an interesting assortment of given names. Walt has a collection of over 5000. Latest addition: "Luscious Chitsinde", a "chief" (local headman) in Mashonaland.
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