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Leonard Ncube,[email protected]

POLICE in Lupane have arrested a man that had terrorised the community targeting women whom he would rob and rape.

Kholwani Ngwenya (41) of Holomoka village under Chief Mabhikwa is facing two counts of robbery and another of rape.

He appeared before Lupane resident magistrate Ms Barbara Phiri who remanded him in custody to this Thursday where he should appear at the Hwange Regional Court.

Ngwenya was advised to apply to the High Court for bail.

Allegations as presented by prosecutor Ms Zandile Laureen Ndebele are that Ngwenya would arm himself with an axe and waylay people whom he would threaten to attack before robbing them.

In the first count, Ngwenya allegedly pounced on the complainant who was walking along Gravel Road towards the Grain Marketing Board Lupane depot on March 11 around 3 pm.

“Along the way, the accused emerged from the bush holding an axe and confronted the complainant threatening to strike her. The accused grabbed the complainant’s hand and dragged her into the bush, took her cellphone handset and instructed her to remove her clothes but she refused. During the process, two unknown male adults appeared and the accused ran away with the cell phone leaving the complainant behind,” said the prosecutor.

The complainant who cannot be named survived the rape because of the passersby.

On the second robbery count, Ngwenya attacked a woman was who walking towards Lupane State University where she is a student.

The woman used a bushy road close to Munzi Lodge and Ngwenya followed and blocked her way.

He shouted “Bisa iphone leyo wena” and she handed the handset to him. He went on “Nxa ufuna iphone yakho bisa imali” and when she told him she didn’t have any, he dragged her into the bush where he forced her to kneel with her hands above her head.

He forced her to lie on the ground and raped her once before taking away her cell phone and ordering her to leave after removing and giving her the sim card.

Residents affected a citizen arrest on Ngwenya on March 14 and handed him to police after he attempted to rob an unidentified woman.

He was found in possession of the two complainant’s cellphone handsets.