By Andile Tshuma

Three women have been arrested after they allegedly detained and ‘raped’ a pastor who had come to demand money he was owed by one of them

The man, whose name has been withheld for ethical reasons, is a pastor at a local church and is from Cowdray Park suburb in Bulawayo.

Sandra Ncube (21), Riamuhetsi Mlauzi (23) and Mongiwe Mpofu (25) who reside at the same house in Cowdray Park suburb, appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Mr Lungile Ncube charged with aggravated indecent assault.

They were remanded in custody to August 7 for continuation of trial.

Prosecuting, Mr Petros Shoko said the complainant had gone to the women’s residence to demand money from Mlauzi sometime last week.

“On July 14, 2017, at around 7PM, the complainant went to the three accused persons’ residence to collect his money from Riamuhetsi Mlauzi, which she owed him,” said the prosecutor.

The court heard that the complainant was ushered into the house before Ncube held him by the waist and fondled his private parts.

“They forced him to lie on the bed and undressed him. Ncube sat on his chest and he tried to push her away. However, Mlauzi, who was in the same room, held his legs together and sat on top, pressing him against the bed,” said Mr Shoko.

Mpofu, who was in another room, allegedly brought condoms and placed one on the complainant’s manhood.

She then allegedly assisted to hold the complainant down as he was resisting.

“Ncube had sexual intercourse with the complainant once, without his consent,” said Mr Shoko.

During trial, the trio denied ‘raping’ the complainant but admitted indecently assaulting him.

“We were just playing around Your Worship. I did not think that he would take it seriously,” said Ncube.

Mpofu distanced herself from the incident and said she had only been called to bring condoms.

“I was not part of it. They just called me to bring condoms. We keep condoms around the house and there were some in my room, so I just brought them,” said Mpofu.

Mlauzi said she wanted to ‘fix’ the pastor, whom she accused of having a tendency of walking in on her when she was bathing.

Mlauzi said: “He always walks in on me bathing and claims to be unmoved as a man of God. I just wanted to see if he was going to be aroused or not. I did not plan to execute the whole rape thing, Your Worship.”

Magistrate Ncube asked Mlauzi what she aimed to benefit from the attack, and she said she just wanted to prove to the pastor that he had feelings like everybody else.

“I wanted him to see that he was not special and was not immune to sexual arousal. When I touched him, he immediately got aroused. And that is all we wanted to see,” she said.

The matter was reported at Cowdray Park Police Station and the complainant was referred to Mpilo Central Hospital for a medical examination.

A medical report was produced in court as evidence