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Thandeka Moyo Court Reporter
A 21-year-old knife-wielding Nkulumane kombi driver ordered a woman from a car she was sitting in with a male friend and allegedly raped her before robbing her of cash.Kgotso Dube had allegedly robbed and stabbed the woman’s male friend, before sexually assaulting her using “dog style”.

He was caught by police who were manning a roadblock after his 23-year-old victim spotted him near Tshabalala Clinic.

The kombi driver appeared before regional Magistrate Sikhumbuzo Nyathi yesterday facing rape and robbery charges. He pleaded not guilty.

In her evidence in chief, the woman, who at one time broke down while narrating her ordeal, said Dube approached her while she was in the company of a male friend at 4AM on May 24 this year. The two friends were in parked vehicle in Parkview Suburb.

“I had taken two bottles of beer and was tired so I dozed. When I woke up I saw Dube searching my friend and realised that he was robbing him. Dube then forced me out of the car and force marched me towards the east, away from the residential houses,” she said.

“He openly told me that he wanted to rape me and then forced me to undress and bend. He then raped me with a condom on.”

After raping her, she alleged Dube searched her satchel, took $10 and then commanded her to get up and go way.

“I left the place and made a police report together with my friend. A few days later I spotted him thrice on different days until I was called for an identification parade. When we got to the room where he was, he openly asked me why I got him arrested before the identification process started,” she added.

The State led by Masimba Saruwaka alleged that Dube approached the pair when they were about to go into a house in Parkview.

Dube approached the man from behind and pressed a knife on his back, demanding that he surrenders cash. The man refused and Dube stabbed him on the right cheek, searched him and took $30 and a C3 Nokia cellphone.

While Dube was searching the man, he realised that the woman had seen him and ordered her to get out of the vehicle and kneel down.

After a while, Dube forced the woman to run towards the eastern direction and later followed her. When he caught up with her, Dube tried to stab her on the neck but the woman blocked the knife resulting in her four fingers on her right hand being injured. He force marched her for about 250 metres to a secluded place behind the rugby ground near Crescent Sports Bar.

He then instructed the woman to remove her clothes and lie on the grass and raped her.

The trial continues on Monday.