An accused rapist breathed a huge sigh of relief on Friday morning when Francistown Magistrate Court found him completely innocent and discharged him.
33-year-old Zibusiso Dube spent the last 11 months in the slammer with a false rape charge weighing heavily over his shoulders.
The Zimbabwean was arrested on 4th February last year, accused of having unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman in the bush at Dibongwane lands; he has been behind bars ever since.
It was heard that Dube and the complainant had gone to collect a hoe from the farm where he worked, with the ‘incident’ occurring on the way back.
In his defence, the suspect repeatedly maintained the sex was consensual.
“She agreed that we have sex and that I pay her. We then had sex and she was holding on a tree. After we finished, I paid her P100. She demanded that I give her another P100, but I did not have any more,” explained Dube in court.
Upon arriving back at the field, the complainant confided to a friend that she had been raped. The friend encouraged her to tell her boyfriend but she refused. Unable to keep the secret, the friend ended up telling the boyfriend, who insisted they alert the police.
Although she was initially reluctant to get the cops involved, the boyfriend persisted and she eventually reported the matter to the boys in blue.
Finding the complainant’s evidence to be full of holes and riddled in doubt, court acquitted Dube.
Grinning from ear to ear, his bright smile matching his orange Orlando Pirates shirt, he left court a happy man, his reputation restored.
Dube is not yet a free man, however, and will remain in jail for another month as he serves out the remainder of his sentence for being in BW illegally.
