In her ruling, Mrs Lucie-Anne Mungwari said there was no
evidence linking Patience Musabayana to the offence.
Musabayana was facing two counts of rape charges as defined
in Section 65 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act,
Chapter 9:23.
Mr Last Goredema prosecuted, while Mr David Tandiri of
Tandiri Law Chambers appeared for Musabayana.
“The evidence that was brought before the court does not
warrant a conviction. There were a lot of loopholes in the witnesses’ accounts.
Witnesses who were called to testify gave conflicting statements,” said Mrs
Mungwari.
In his application for discharge, Mr Tandiri submitted that
the rape report was a cover up of Musabayana’s husband’s rape charges that are
currently before a Harare court.
The businessman is alleged to have raped his daughter while
Musabayana was in Mutare with her step-son.
The defence argued that when Musabayana made a police
report on the Harare rape case, her husband’s first wife made a counter report
claiming that Musabayana had raped her son.
Mr Tandiri argued that the matter was fabricated,
highlighting that there inconsistencies in the witnesses’ testimonies.
Allegations in Musabayana’s case were that sometime in
2016, she sexually abused her 12-year-old step-son on two occasions. Manica
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