Assault victim 'kidnapped'

THE MDC-T supporter, who was assaulted for taking pictures of Gogo Tsvangirai at son, Morgan's burial believes she was lucky to escape rape.

Nyaradzo Mtize was assaulted by Sekuru Innocent Zvaipa for taking pictures of the popular Gogo Tsvangirai as she sat graveside.

Gogo Tsvangirai has been subject to social media ridicule since Saturday when she was captured on ZTV camera demanding the sidelining of daughter-in-law Elizabeth Macheka and MDC-T acting president, Nelson Chamisa.

Chamisa is seemingly a darling of social media youths and they then ganged up against Gogo Tsvangirai calling her all sorts of ugly names.

Nyaradzo could not resist the temptation of taking a picture of Gogo Tsvangirai when she got close to where she was with relatives and took pictures with her phone while relatives were watching.

Zvaipa charged at Nyaradzo, a University of Zimbabwe student, and repeatedly slapped her in the full glare of the mourners at the cemetery.

Nyaradzo said she was forced to give her Facebook account and one of the relatives went through it to check if she had not already uploaded the photographs.

"The man is so cruel, he clapped me twice that my eye and cheek are swelling and I am in pain," she said.
She was however, scared to report the attack to police.

"If it was not that they would hunt me down and also that it will be time-consuming I could have lodged a report with the police. Now I regret staying behind at the graveyard when my friends left. As for taking pictures I didn't know that it was an offence since journalists were taking her and many others some photographs," she said.

Tsvangirai family spokesperson, Manase Tsvangirai confirmed the incident saying he has since apologised to Nyaradzo.

"Sekuru and everyone else who saw her taking the pictures was not happy and we thought she had a hidden agenda. She went on to anger family members when she was asked her reason for taking photographs hanzi Gogo varikunakidza nhasi, kana ndimiwo? It's so provocative but we apologised after learning that she is only a UZ student who came to join others in burying my brother," said Manase.

GOOD SAMARITAN
Following the attack, Nyaradzo was then offered transport to Harare by a well-wisher, only identified as Sebastian. It seemed a comfortable journey until Sebastian changed the route saying he had decided to go to his rural home in Hwedza.

Nyaradzo asked to be dropped so she could look for transport to Harare but Sebastian refused and proceeded to his family home in Hwedza without her consent.

This unsettled Nyaradzo extremely as Sebastian had spent the better part of the trip making advances to her.
"He witnessed me being attacked at the cemetery and came to me sympathising with me. I fell for his

sympathy and accepted his transport offer. However, he was asking me out for a better part of the journey and I was terrified when he then diverted and drove to Hwedza against my will.

"I even called my boyfriend hoping that it would put him off but he (Sebastian) didn't seem to care and at that stage I had virtually been kidnapped and feared for the worst. He took me to his rural home and seemed intent to spend the night there with me.

"Fortunately for me, his mother was not feeling well and she asked to be taken to Harare right away and that is what saved me. He could not say no to his mother given her condition and whatever plans he had went up in smoke. We eventually arrived in Harare around midnight."