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Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
A 22-YEAR-OLD Plumtree man who tried to rape his 81-year-old neighbour while claiming he had fallen in love with her has been jailed for six months. Thulani Dube is already serving an 18 months sentence which commenced in April for a previous assault conviction.

A drunken Dube crept into the old woman’s house while she was sleeping and tried to rape her.

Instead he ejaculated on her thighs and the elderly woman escaped from her bedroom hut leaving him behind.

Dube pleaded guilty to an indecent assault charge.

He appeared embarrassed by his actions and apologised in court after stating that he was drunk when he committed the offence.

Plumtree magistrate, Gideon Ruvetsa, asked him to explain his actions.

Dube stammered an apology: “I feel ashamed by what I did to an elderly woman who is old enough to be my grandmother. I don’t know what had come over me. I did it under the influence of alcohol and I’m sorry.”

Ruvetsa sentenced Dube to 12 months in prison and suspended six months for the next five years on condition that he does not commit an offence of a similar nature.

The magistrate said he had passed a lenient sentence on Dube after taking into consideration that he was still serving another jail sentence.

Prosecuting, Clemence Shawarira said on the day of the incident the old woman escaped from Dube and spent the whole night at a cemetery.

He said she was attacked during the month of February around 10PM.

“The complainant was sleeping in her bedroom hut with her granddaughter when Dube gained entry into her hut. Dube, who appeared to be drunk, attacked the complainant and tried to rape her but instead he ejaculated on her thighs,” said Shawarira.

He said he kept telling the complainant that he was sexually attracted to her and that he had wanted to have sexual intercourse with her for a long time.

Shawarira said Dube stood up and the complainant took advantage and crept out of her bedroom hut into the dark night.

She made her way to their family cemetery where she spent the night while Dube remained behind calling and searching for her.

The court heard that the old woman alerted her neighbours the following morning. The police proceeded to Dube’s homestead but discovered that he had fled to a neighbouring village where he was later apprehended.

Dube was in April jailed for 24 months for assault and six months of his sentence was suspended for five years on condition that he does not within the period commit a similar offence.