AN EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD grade eight pupil at Mansila Community School in Chibolya Township has told a magistrate how three men allegedly raped her and her older sister after threatening to stab them if they screamed for help. This is in a case Jack Ngoma, 29, of Chibolya is accused of having carnal knowledge of a girl without her consent. It is alleged that on February 25, this year, Ngoma had carnal knowledge of a girl without her consent. The other suspects in matter fled while another was recently apprehended.

When the matter came up for trial, the victim told the court that on the material day, she and her 16-yearold sister where heading home from their uncle’s place where they spend nights. “It was around 05:00 hours when we were going back to our mother’s house when we saw a person coming towards us,” she said. The victim said the man then held her sister by the hand and asked them where they were coming from. “When we told him that we were coming from our uncle’s place, he let go of my sister’s hand and by- passed us but later, he returned and held my sister by the hand,” she narrated. The victim said at that point, two other men arrived and one of them held her by the hand while another one tried to remove her wrapper (chitenje). The two girls asked the men to let go of them but the plea fell on deaf ears.

The victims started crying as the men warned that he will to stab them if they screamed for help. She said one of the men asked her to remove her clothes while another one (man) also asked her sister to undress while threatening to stab them. “When I refused, one of them hit me in the stomach, I felt pain and drowsy…the man then raped me,” the victim said. She said her sister also told her that the two other men raped her. The victim said the incident happened in Chibolya at a bush not far from a road near the Seventh Day Adventist Church. She said after the incident, the two went home while crying and informed their parents about the incident. The victim identified Ngoma, who was in court, as being among the three men who allegedly defiled her sister. Trial continues on June 28.