A self-syled Nkayi
prophet allegedly raped a woman at knife point inside a church after
“prophesying” that her relatives were making her sleep with a monkey, a court
heard yesterday.
Cuthbert Dube, 32,
allegedly told the 23-year-old victim that her womb was damaged as a result of
the supernatural intercourse. When he saw that his words were not having an
effect, Dube allegedly abandoned the word of God and grabbed the woman.
The court heard how he
dragged her into Agape Church where he produced a knife that he used to
threaten the woman before raping her. He was arrested the following day at his
homestead where scores of women were queuing to receive “holy anointing” from
him.
The woman’s
sister-in-law identified him as the man who had passed by their homestead
asking for water to drink, a day before he raped the woman. Dube appeared
before regional magistrate Chrispen Mberewere yesterday and pleaded not guilty
to rape.
He told magistrate
Mberewere that he did not know the woman and had travelled out of the village
on the day the woman alleged she was raped. The victim took to the stand as the
first State witness and told the court that Dube followed her on a narrow
pathway leading to the Agape Church.
“As I was about to pass
the church gate, I saw Dube and he greeted me and immediately went into a
trance.
“He started prophesying
that my relatives were forcing me to sleep with a monkey and that my womb had
problems,” said the woman.
“As I drew closer to
him, he grabbed me and took me inside the church, leaving his bicycle outside.
I screamed and he took out a knife and threatened to kill me if I made any
noise.”
The woman said Dube
forced her to lie down and undressed her.
“He then raped me once
and told me to continue with my journey. When I got home I notified my
sister-in-law,” she said.
Another witness told
the court that Dube was arrested while prophesying on a number of women.
“When he saw us coming,
he produced a knife but we managed to apprehend him.
“He admitted to raping
her and asked us to not assault him as he was ready to compensate her family
with a beast,” he said.
“We took him to the
police station and asked him to identify the woman he had raped and he pointed
at the victim.
“Other villagers even
told us that Dube was very dangerous but we managed to subdue him.”
In his defence, Dube
maintained that he did not know any of the witnesses and denied prophesying on
anyone. He asked the rape victim why she stopped to listen to a prophecy from
someone she did not know.
Magistrate Mberewere
remanded him in custody to May 28. Trust Muduma for the state told the court
that on March 24 at around 12noon, the woman was on her way to Tsheli Business
Centre to purchase airtime recharge cards.
Muduma said she met
Dube who grabbed her and produced a knife threatening to stab her if she
resisted. He said Dube dragged her into the church and raped her once. After
the sexual assault, the court heard, Dube threatened to kill the woman if she
revealed the matter to anyone.
The woman reported the
matter to police the following day and was referred to hospital for medical
examination.
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