Cleansing ritual rape lands prophet in court

A self-proclaimed prophet from Filabusi has been arrested for allegedly raping a 16-year-old teenager who is also his niece under the pretext of healing her. The prophet who cannot be named for ethical reasons, was not asked to plead when he appeared briefly before Gwanda regional magistrate, Mrs Sithembiso Ndebele, facing two counts of rape.

He was remanded in custody to September 9. Prosecuting, Mr Ngonidzashe Shumba, said the accused person allegedly raped the complainant on July 10 after she went to his home for a cleansing ceremony as she was experiencing abdominal pains and a headache.

"On 10 July at around 1PM, the complainant went to the accused person's home with her grandmother to be cleansed as she was experiencing abdominal pains and a headache. The accused person took her into his consultation room and told the complainant's grandmother that she would have to remain behind as the cleansing was supposed to take place at night," said Mr Shumba.

The court heard that the complainant's grandmother left her granddaughter behind as the accused person stated that she will be under the care of his female assistants. He said at night while others were asleep the accused person took advantage to rape the complainant under the pretext of cleansing her.

"At around 11PM the accused person ordered the complainant to remove her clothes and gave her a white cloth to cover her body. He took her to a nearby bush where he bathed her using a concoction. After bathing they returned to the consultation room where the accused person advised the complainant to sleep naked in the blankets for the concoction to be effective. He left and promised to come back at midnight to complete the cleansing process," said Mr Shumba.

He said at midnight the accused person returned and told the complainant that he had to have sexual intercourse with her in order to remove the disease from its source. The complainant objected but the accused person pushed her to the floor and raped her twice.

Mr Shumba said the accused person then told the complainant that she was not supposed to reveal the matter to anyone or seek medical help as she would fall critically ill and die and he instructed her to spend the rest of the night at his home.

He said on the following day the complainant was collected by her grandmother and the accused person assured that she had been cleansed.

"When they got home the teenager complained of pains in her private parts. Her grandmother questioned her and she narrated what the accused person had done to her and the matter was reported to the police leading to his arrest," said Mr Shumba.