Married woman beds co-tenant 'by mistake'

A Harare man who allegedly took advantage of his neighbour's absence to sneak into his bedroom and became intimate with his unsuspecting wife who responded thinking it was her husband, appeared in court last week charged with rape.

Nkosilathi Sibanda (27) tiptoed from his bedroom while undressed in the wee hours and got into the woman's blankets while the light was off and started caressing and kissing her, the court heard.

The 25-year-old woman later discovered it was not her husband after she had sex with him. The parties involved are co-tenants in Mabelreign. Sibanda will stand trial today before magistrate Mr Hosiah Mujaya. Prosecuting, Mr Timothy Makoni alleged that on October 22 at around 3am, Sibanda who knew that the victim's husband had not returned home, tip-toed into her bedroom while naked.

Sibanda quickly opened the door and saw the victim sleeping on the bed. He allegedly crept into her blankets and started kissing and touched the woman who then responded thinking it was her husband. It is the State's case that Sibanda became intimate with the woman and at that moment she discovered that it was not her husband. She pushed Sibanda away, jumped from the bed and rushed to switch on the light, the court heard.

The victim was shocked to see her co-tenant's husband undressed on her bed and screamed for help. She fought with Sibanda and slapped him twice in the face, but all he could do was to ask for forgiveness from the victim. Sibanda, the State alleged, rushed back to his bedroom as the victim kept on screaming for help alerting neighbours.

The court further heard that people then gathered at the house and questioned Sibanda why he had committed the offence and he kept on apologising. The victim, with the help of neighbours, went to the police station and reported Sibanda.