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Melody Baya Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO man yesterday appeared in court for allegedly raping his 14-year-old neighbour. The man, 30, from Makokoba suburb, who cannot be named to protect the victim, appeared before magistrate Tinashe Tashaya who did not ask him to plead.

He remanded the girl’s attacker in custody to today. The man is a self employed cart pusher who operates in Makokoba. The prosecutor, Nathaniel Mutsikwa, told the court that on August 22, 2015 at around 1 PM the complainant had just arrived home from a soccer training session at school when she heard the pushcart operator calling her.

The man, he added, told the victim that her coach was looking for her and she went to a football field and found it deserted. “The complainant on her way back met the man who forcibly grabbed her right hand ordering her to accompany him to nearby flats, but she refused,” said Mutsikwa.

“He grabbed the victim by the collar and produced a knife which was in his jacket and threatened to stab her if she refused to accompany him. He force marched her to a nearby bush and raped her once without protection,” he told the court.

Mutsikwa further said that he threatened to stab her if she ever told anybody about the incident.