Women luring rich men into bed before accusing them of rape to extort cash

Some women are reportedly luring rich men into bed before accusing them of rape to extort cash and other valuables from them, a Harare magistrate heard yesterday.

Harare lawyer Mr Dumisani Mthombeni of B Matanga Intellectual Property Attorneys, told the court that such women demanded up to US$5 000 or vehicles from their victims.

Mr Mthombeni made these remarks while defending his client, Khwaja Hisham (32), who was accused of raping Silethemba Ndlovu.

Ndlovu had her rape claim quashed by regional magistrate, Mr Noel Mupeiwa, and is likely to be charged for making a false report.

In acquitting Hisham, Mr Mupeiwa ordered the State to investigate the report that was made by Ndlovu with a view to charging her with making a false report.

"The complainant lied to the police that she was aged 19 and yet in court she stated that she is aged 21. She also lied to the court that she knew nothing about the photos and video which were retrieved by an IT expert from the accused's phone in which she was walking around naked in his house.

"It is clear that she lied when she made the report against the accused. This is one of the cases where it is clear to the court that complainant deliberately made a false report to the police. The court recommends that complainant be investigated for making a false report with a view to charging her with making a false report," he said.

In his defence, Hashim through his lawyer denied the allegations.

He told the court that he met Ndlovu at Centurion Restaurant at the Harare Sports Club.

Mr Mthombeni said: "My client went to the restaurant in the company of his friend. He later went outside to his car and on his way back into the restaurant, he heard someone stopping him and it was the complainant who then said, ‘Hie handsome, why are you walking so fast, are you alone?'

"As he kept walking, she followed him and insisted that she punches her mobile number into his phone and the following day they started communicating and she constantly inquired about the accused's background, business interest in Zimbabwe and his wealth."

He added: ". . . When they got home she started seducing the accused by sitting on his lap and kissing him. She then asked to take a shower and ordered the accused to take pictures and film her while naked. She later deleted the clips when they were about to leave the house."

Mr Mthombeni further said that after making a false charge of rape, Ndlovu demanded US$5 000 from Hisham for her to drop the charges before reducing the amount to US$2 500 or a car.

The photos, which were retrieved from Hashim's phone by an IT expert in which Ndlovu was filmed while naked and posing to the camera were produced in court by the defence but she professed ignorance of the videos adding that they could have been doctored.

Prosecutor Mrs Tinashe Kanyemba-Makiya had alleged that on March 23 Hisham approached Ndlovu at her residence in connection with a clothing business.

It was alleged Hisham drove the woman to his residence after luring her to show her clothing samples.

At the house Hisham failed to show the woman the clothing samples instead he started showing her the samples on his mobile phone.

He started caressing the woman before raping her, it was alleged.