The court granted his application for discharge at the
close of the State’s case.
Rundogo had been accused of repeatedly raping the minor
girl and bribing her with sweets.
In her ruling, magistrate Loice Mukunyadze said the
complainant gave conflicting accounts of the alleged rape and the State ended
up failing to prove its case.
“The complainant gave conflicting versions of how she was
raped and while the court is cognisant of the fact that she is a minor, her
testimony had too many inconsistencies.
“She told the police that she was raped twice by the
accused and admitted that she had sexual intercourse with two other boys.
“The matter came to light when she was tested and found to
be HIV positive.
“The law is very clear that complainants must make a free
and voluntary report, which was not the case in this matter.
“She only reported the matter after she was found HIV
positive and while the complainant is a young child, and her evidence must be
treated with caution, at first she even denied having had sexual intercourse
with anyone at all.
“Her testimony was hard to believe because she told
different versions to different people and it would be improper to put the
accused to his defence,” magistrate Mukunyadze said.
Rundogo, who was represented by Dumisani Mthombeni, had
denied the allegations, stating that he considered the minor as his daughter
because her mother was once his girlfriend.
He also told the court that it boggled his mind why he was
being falsely accused of raping the girl as he had previously been accused of
similar allegations, but found innocent.
He further told the court that while he may not have direct
evidence, he suspected that someone influenced both complainants to
deliberately make these false allegations against him.
He further showed his HIV negative results in court and
claimed that he would have contracted the virus if he had raped the child.
He claimed he had evidence that she has been unwell from a
tender age. H Metro
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