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Grade 5 pupil 'trades sex for bread and butter'

by Thandeka Moyo
30 Mar 2015 at 08:53hrs | Views
A 19-YEAR-OLD man raped a grade five pupil on three separate occasions after enticing her to follow him into a bush by giving her money to buy food, a court heard.

The man allegedly threatened to stab the girl to death if she told anyone about the abuse.

Mlindeli Hlumbayo ran out of luck when the girl's aunt noticed that the kid and her friend who is their neighbour were no longer eating at home.

Bulawayo senior regional magistrate Mark Dzira heard that Hlumbayo gave the girl $10 before the last sexual assault

The girl went shopping as usual, bought bread and butter before going to a bush where she and her friend ate the food and buried the leftovers.

Hlumbayo denied the allegations saying the girl foiled to account for the money she was spending on sweets, chips and biscuits and used him as a cover-up.

"I didn't rape her. She is making up this story to tarnish my image. I didn't give her any money and if at all I raped her, she was supposed to report the first incident," said Hlumbayo.

The girl, who gave evidence in camera, told magistrate Dzira that she was afraid of Hlumbayo as he had a tendency of raping her after threatening her with a knife.

"I met him on my way to Tshangani River where we fetch water and he gave me $1. I took the $1 and he immediately instructed me to follow him into the bush where he raped me once and threatened to stab me if I divulged the matter," said the girl.

She said she used the money given to her to buy food on her way from school.

"On the third incident, we bought bread and butter and buried the leftover food after a school meeting which was also attended by Mlindeli. I failed to eat when I got home and that is when my aunt became suspicious and she questioned me until I told her the whole story"

Magistrate Dzira remanded Hlumbayo to today.

Prosecuting Tinashe Dzipe told the court that in October last year at around 4PM, the girl went to Tshangani River to fetch water where she met Hlumbayo.

He said Hlumbayo gave her $1 and ordered her to follow him to a nearby stream

After raping her, die court heard, he threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Two days after the incident, Hlumbayo met the girl again and raped her after giving her $1.

Dzipe said two days later, Hlumbayo met the girl during a school meeting and threw a $10 note at her.

He said other pupils scrambled for the money but he instructed them to leave it for the girl.

"The girl bought bread and butter and went to the bush where she ate the food with her friend. She went home and her aunt noticed that she hadn't eaten food that had been prepared for her" said Dzipe.

He said the girl's aunt questioned her and she confessed, leading to Hlumbayo's arrest.

Source - chronicle
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