Church mate 'rapist' suffers setback

A BULAWAYO man accused of a sex attack on a married woman from his church suffered a setback yesterday after a magistrate turned down his application to dismiss the rape charges.

Hudson Mazonde, last week through his lawyer Robinson Mahachi, applied for a discharge at the end of the State's case and a verdict of not guilty stating that he had consensual sex with an adulterous woman who was now framing him to save her marriage.

Regional magistrate Chrispen Mberewere, however, said Mazonde must be put on his defence.

"After deliberating on what state witnesses said and what the defence alleges, this court concluded that it is important to go to the defence's case. The accused has to be tried and before that there is nothing that this court will do," he said, dismissing the application.

Mazonde was remanded to tomorrow when the defence case will begin.

In his application Mazonde indicated that alleged victim cannot recall the title of the movie or what was playing on the television and this showed that the two where "absorbed by other things rather than watching the said movie".

Prosecuting, Trust Mudumu Muduma said Mazonde, a single father of five, raped his church mate after she accepted his invitation to come and watch a movie with him at his house. The court was told that on July 10 at around 2PM, Mazonde contacted the school teacher and asked her to come over to his house so they could watch movies. She accepted.

It is alleged that when she got into the house, Mazonde started "acting funny" before he invited her to his bedroom, but she allegedly refused. He then reportedly used force on her and allegedly raped her once.

She later informed her husband of the ordeal and the couple made a police report.