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Munyaradzi Kereke

Harare Bureau
Zanu-PF Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2010 and indecently assaulting her sister, aged 15 at the time, made several sexual advances to the 13-year-old before the alleged rape, the court heard yesterday.
This was revealed by the girl’s aunt (name withheld to protect the victims) during the trial which continued in an open court. In her evidence, the woman told the court that the rape victim confided in her and narrated her ordeal.

“She followed me to my bedroom and told me while in tears all what had happened. She said the accused had sexually abused her. She continued to cry and said she wanted her mother to know what had happened.

“On October 31, 2010, we went to church together with the girls and my sister-in-law. That is when we decided to go and tell their grandparents in Greendale. When we went to Greendale, that is when in that conversation it was made clear that he had raped her. She told my sister-in-law that before the rape, accused had made several inappropriate sexual advances in the past,” she said.

The aunt added: “She said that one afternoon when her aunt (Kereke’s wife) had gone out, he pushed her onto the couch and when he heard the kitchen door opening, he stood up.”

She said the girl’s grandmother broke into tears when she heard of the alleged abuse.
The aunt was asked by private prosecutor Charles Warara to narrate what then transpired after they had been told of the alleged abuse.

She told the court how they proceeded to make a report to the police as a family and how the police referred them to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals for a medical report.

“At the hospital, she was attended to in my presence and a female police officer who had accompanied us was also in the room where she was examined. Later on that day we were referred to Harare (Central) Hospital where she (the victim) attended a counselling session,” she said.

During cross-examination, Kereke’s lawyer Erum Mutandiro, unsuccessfully tried to base his line of questioning on a typed police statement purportedly made by the witness which Warara dismissed, saying it was wrongly transcribed, adding that the statements were distorted.

The trial continues today.