News / Regional
Tattoos give away rapist
31 May 2012 at 09:24hrs | Views
A man's chest tattoos gave him away leading to his arrest and conviction for raping a woman whom he met while she was gathering firewood.
Vusa Ndlovu (44), of L7 Dingumuzi Township in Plumtree, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of rape, but was convicted by former Bulawayo regional magistrate Mrs Fadzai Mthombeni.
Mrs Mthombeni, who is now based in Harare and is in Bulawayo to finalise her partly heard cases, sentenced Ndlovu to 18 years in prison of which three years were conditionally suspended for five years.
In arriving at the sentence, the court took into account the fact that Ndlovu has been in custody waiting for the finalisation of his case since 4 October 2010.
The State case as presented by the prosecutor, Mr Tinashe Dzipe, is that on 30 December, at about 7.15 am, the complainant in the company of three other women was gathering firewood at Masisa Farm on the outskirts of Plumtree.
During the process they spread out when suddenly Ndlovu appeared from behind trees and stood in front of the complainant holding a log in his hand.
He was wearing a black pair of shorts and black boots without anything on top.
On seeing him, the complainant screamed for help and tried to run past Ndlovu but he struck her on the head with the log and she fell down.
On hearing her scream, the other women ran away and did not move in to investigate what was happening.
Ndlovu got hold of the complainant and pressed her hard against the ground and continuously knocked her on the head with the log in an effort to stop her from screaming.
He tore her panties and got on top of her and that was when she saw two tattoos on both sides of his chest.
She struggled with him but he overpowered her and raped her once.
After the act, he threatened to call three of his colleagues to come and rape her and she got up and ran away.
She later made a report to the police. On 3 January 2011, in the afternoon, the complainant spotted Ndlovu in Dingumuzi Township leading to his arrest.
After being taken to the police station, a check was carried out on his chest and the two tattoos were seen.
The black boots and pair of shorts that were described by the complainant were also recovered.
Vusa Ndlovu (44), of L7 Dingumuzi Township in Plumtree, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of rape, but was convicted by former Bulawayo regional magistrate Mrs Fadzai Mthombeni.
Mrs Mthombeni, who is now based in Harare and is in Bulawayo to finalise her partly heard cases, sentenced Ndlovu to 18 years in prison of which three years were conditionally suspended for five years.
In arriving at the sentence, the court took into account the fact that Ndlovu has been in custody waiting for the finalisation of his case since 4 October 2010.
The State case as presented by the prosecutor, Mr Tinashe Dzipe, is that on 30 December, at about 7.15 am, the complainant in the company of three other women was gathering firewood at Masisa Farm on the outskirts of Plumtree.
During the process they spread out when suddenly Ndlovu appeared from behind trees and stood in front of the complainant holding a log in his hand.
He was wearing a black pair of shorts and black boots without anything on top.
On seeing him, the complainant screamed for help and tried to run past Ndlovu but he struck her on the head with the log and she fell down.
On hearing her scream, the other women ran away and did not move in to investigate what was happening.
Ndlovu got hold of the complainant and pressed her hard against the ground and continuously knocked her on the head with the log in an effort to stop her from screaming.
He tore her panties and got on top of her and that was when she saw two tattoos on both sides of his chest.
She struggled with him but he overpowered her and raped her once.
After the act, he threatened to call three of his colleagues to come and rape her and she got up and ran away.
She later made a report to the police. On 3 January 2011, in the afternoon, the complainant spotted Ndlovu in Dingumuzi Township leading to his arrest.
After being taken to the police station, a check was carried out on his chest and the two tattoos were seen.
The black boots and pair of shorts that were described by the complainant were also recovered.
Source - Court
