By BRIAN HATYOKA –
AN old woman aged 112 years yesterday testified how a 21-year-old man allegedly raped her in the early hours of December 18, 2017.
The woman, from a village under Chief Mukuni of Kazungula district in Southern Province, told Livingstone chief resident magistrate Willie Sinyangwe yesterday that Elvis Simushi, 21, entered her house between 02:00 hours and 03:30 hrs and forced himself on her.
The victim, so old and frail, who had to be carried in and out of the courthouse, alleged that Simushi held her by the mouth, pushed her to the ground and, forced himself on her.
“I screamed for help because I had no strength to resist. He then forced himself on me.”
During cross-examination, the victim dismissed claims that she allowed the accused into her house.
She also denied suggestions that she was providing herbal medicine to people who had different diseases.
“I only know that salt heals. I don’t know any of the herbal medicines. I insist that the younger man had sex with me without my consent,” she said.
The second State witness told the court that she rushed to the house of the victim on the fateful day after she heard her screaming.
The witness, 72, a farmer and daughter of the old woman, said her house was located just a few metres from the victim’s home.
“I was sleeping on the night of December 18, 2017 and I heard my mother screaming for help. I then opened my mother’s house and, immediately, a man forced his way out, pushing me to the ground as he fled,” she said.
“This man came out with full force and he ran away. He was only wearing a pair of pants but I could not see his face clearly since it was in the night,” she said.
She said when she entered her mother’s house, the victim told her that a man had just raped her.
She said when the alarm was raised, some men in the area started looking for the suspect and later discovered a pair of shorts and slippers from a makeshift stand which they recognised as belonging to Simushi.
The court admitted the shorts and slippers as exhibits.
Trial continues on January 31, 2018.
