'Rapist' neighbour falls asleep in victim's blankets

A 65-YEAR-OLD woman from Nkayi told a court that after raping her twice, her alleged rapist aged 20, told her she now belonged to him.

He then fell asleep in her blankets.

The woman said the man, who is her neighbour, strangled her and asked her if uyajusa (taking ARV medication).

She told the court that she tried to fight back and bit him on his lower lip, but he overpowered her.

The man, she said, raped her while putting on a condom but later tossed it away saying that it disturbed him.

"After he fell asleep in my blankets, I picked up my two-year-old grandchild and fled to my neighbour's homestead. He woke up and fled before we returned," she said.

"I am even afraid to sleep in my home or to make eye contact with him because of what he did to me".

The man pleaded not guilty to rape when he appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Mr Trynose Utahwashe who remanded him in custody to November 2 for continuation of trial.

The man said there was no way he could have raped the woman as she was the same age as his mother.

He said: "There was no way I could have had an erection for you at your age."

Prosecuting, Mr Robin Mukura said the man raped the old woman on March 25 when she was sleeping in her homestead.

He said he grabbed her by the neck, threatened to axe her and raped her.

"After raping her, the man fell asleep in the old woman's bedroom. She fled from her homestead and sought refuge at another neighbour's homestead," Mr Mukura said.