Bestiality suspect requests for victim's examination

A BEITBRIDGE man accused of bestiality yesterday drew laughter from a fully-packed magistrate's court when he requested that his victim, a donkey, be examined to confirm the charge.

Tawanda Machesa further asked resident magistrate Langton Mukwengi that he be examined medically to check if he truly had raped a donkey.

Machesa brought another dimension that police stole his $25 and were now alleging he had been intimate with the beast of burden.

"They arrested me in an open space near the hospital and stole $25 from my pocket then accused me of raping a donkey."

"I work at a car wash and was near my workplace. There is no way I could do that. Can they examine the donkey to see if it was raped," he asked the court.

"Truly, that is what I want and I swear to God," Machesa, an unrepresented stranger in court procedures said continuously without giving time to the interpreter to convey in English his request to the court.

Mukwengi asked him not to volunteer a lot of information unsolicited by the court.

The court, in response to his claim that the police assaulted him when stealing his money, ordered prosecutor Oswell Arufandi to investigate assault allegations.

"But we will remand you in custody to allow doctors to examine you. Where you were injured in the assault (by the police)?" Mukwengi asked.

Machesa had requested to be released on bail, saying he is the sole breadwinner looking after his aged mother and siblings.

He was remanded in custody to end of this month.

In an unrelated matter, a South African hunter, who was part of a hunting expedition team under the Beitbridge Campfire Association project, reportedly went missing last week amid fears he could have been attacked by a crocodile along the Limpopo River.

Scott van Zyl allegedly disappeared when he ventured closer to the banks of the river.

"There is no trace of anything, not any part of the body, no clothing, we cannot see anything. He just vanished," fellow hunter Van de Merwe said.

"He went towards the river and closer to the banks and a few moments later there was no trace of him."

Matabeleland South police spokesperson, Inspector Philisani Ndebele declined to comment on the matter, referring all questions to his bosses in Harare.