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Melody Baya, Court Reporter
A HANDYMAN hired to install a TV satellite dish has been dragged to court accused of raping a 14-year-old girl.

Yura Ndlovu, 32, of Nkulumane suburb in Bulawayo, allegedly forced himself on the victim after her grandmother, who had hired Ndlovu, left them together to go to the shops.

He appeared before Western Commonage Magistrate Themba Chimiso, who remanded him in custody to December 2. He was not asked to plead.

Prosecuting, Maria John told the court that on August 14, 2015, at around 1PM at a house in Nkulumane, the alleged victim was at home with her grandmother when Ndlovu arrived to install a satellite dish.

The grandmother, she said, then left home and went to the shops and ordered the teenager to follow her. Ndlovu, said the prosecutor, confronted the teen and told her not to follow her grandmother.

He allegedly called her to the living room pretending to be asking something about the decoder. He locked the door.

Said John: “He pushed complainant onto the sofa, pulled down the girl’s undergarments and threatened to kill her if she screamed.

“Ndlovu then pulled down his pair of trousers to ankle level and had sexual intercourse with the teen once without using protection and without her consent.”

She added that after raping the girl, Ndlovu wiped his privates and then the girl’s with a bathing towel he found at his disposal.

“He then proceeded to dress up and threatened to kill the girl if she ever disclosed to anyone about what had happened. Ndlovu then went back on top of the roof and continued with his job of installing the satellite dish,” the prosecutor said.

Fungisai Maphosa, who is a tenant at the house, arrived shortly after and the girl told her what had happened, it is claimed.

“Ndlovu heard them talking and ran away,” added John.

A medical report will be produced as evidence before the court.