Man in court for raping a donkey

18-year-old Mbongiseni Dube of Jambezi, Zimbabwe, pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Victoria Falls resident magistrate Sharon Rosemani over accusations he raped a donkey.

For the State, David Tivakudze told the court that on the afternoon of March 22, Mbongiseni was with his uncle Stephan Dube at a borehole smocking tobacco while grazing his donkeys.

Mbongiseni then told his uncle that he was going to check on the donkeys.

After realising that he had been gone for too long, his uncle decided to check on him and found other donkeys grazing nearby, but one female was missing.

Stephan searched and found a half dressed Mbongiseni raping the female donkey in a bushy area.

When he saw his uncle, Mbongiseni fled leaving his shirt on the scene.

Mbongiseni denied the allegations telling the court that he found that the donkey had been beaten by an unknown person and the reason he was standing behind it with his shirt off was that he was trying to mount the donkey and take it to his uncle's homestead.

Dube told the court that he had always suspected that his donkey was being abused by someone because of the way it had been bruised.

He said what saddened him was that he caught his nephew abusing it and that it was bleeding, indicating that it had been beaten before being abused.

Dube also said he could not understand why his nephew had initially pleaded guilty and then later altered his plea.