A 22-YEAR-OLD man has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for drugging and raping his friend. Mbusowenkosi Ncube of Spitzkop Medium Suburb had pleaded not guilty to a charge of rape but was convicted due to overwhelming evidence by Gwanda regional magistrate Mrs Sibonginkosi Mkandla.
He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and four years
were suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within
the next five years.
Ncube had appeared together with Silenkosi Ndlovu (18) also
of Spitzkop Medium Suburb but Ndlovu was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Prosecuting, Mr Khumbulani Nyoni said Ncube and Ndlovu
raped the 14-year-old girl on June 28 after she had accompanied Ndlovu to his
place of residence.
“On 28 June at around 2PM Ndlovu met the complainant who is
his friend and asked her to accompany him to his house so that he could give
her a birthday present. She agreed and when they got to his home Ndlovu gave
her a 500ml bottle of 7UP drink which is suspected to have been laced with
drugs and she blacked out. Ndlovu was later joined by Ncube and they took
advantage and raped the complainant before releasing her to go to home,” he
said.
“When the complainant got home her mother suspected that
she was drunk. She questioned her daughter who narrated what had happened while
at Ndlovu’s home. The complainant went to hospital for an examination and it
was discovered that she had some fresh bruises on her private parts. The matter
was reported to the police resulting in Ncube and Ndlovu’s arrest.”
In his defence, Ndlovu, through his lawyer Mr Themba
Khumalo of Mlweli Ndlovu and Partners, said on the day in question he arrived
home at around 5PM and found the complainant sleeping in his room with the door
locked from the inside. He said the complainant told him that her mother had
chased her away as she had arrived home drunk.
“My client didn’t enter the room where the complainant was
sleeping. He had this conversation with the complainant through the window as
she had locked herself inside. He didn’t at any point come into contact with
the complainant or rape her. If the complainant was involved in any sexual
activities it surely happened wherever the complainant went after leaving his
place of residence,” he said.
In his defence, Ncube also through his lawyer Mr Khumalo
said on the day in question the complainant called him using her friend’s phone
and asked him to organise some beer for her which she was going to collect in
the afternoon. Mr Themba Khumalo said his client never gave the complainant a
500ml 7UP drink.
“My client bought two 375ml Star cane spirit and a Mirinda
Orange drink. The complainant arrived at his room on her own and started
drinking alcohol which was diluted with the orange drink.
He then took some of the alcohol and accompanied his
friends leaving the complainant behind drinking alcohol and listening to music.
My client will state that there was never a time when the complainant blacked
out in his presence. He returned from accompanying his friends and told the
complainant to go home and she left. He was surprised when the complainant’s
brothers later came in the evening looking for her,” he said. Chronicle
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