Mutale Prophet out on bail for two counts of rape
The prophet was arrested after a 34-year-old woman opened a case on April 22, alleging that she was raped by him on two separate occasions.
LIMPOPO – A well-known prophet in the Mutale area appeared in court on two charges of rape. The prophet was arrested after a 34-year-old woman opened a case on April 22, alleging that she was raped by him on two separate occasions.
The woman of Pile village near Dzimauli in Ha-Rammbuda, said the incidents occurred after she and her husband consulted the prophet after they struggled to fall pregnant after years of marriage. “We visited the prophet for the first time on September 2, 2021 at his place. He prayed for us that day, but told us that he didn’t receive any answer for his prayer as he was fasting at the time.”
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He apparently asked for her cellphone number in order to contact her on the way forward and contacted her in fewer than two weeks. According to the woman, the prophet told her to visit him at his place for an urgent matter, which she then did while her husband travelled to Musina.
She said they travelled to Louis Trichardt as he said he should get medicine for her.
“He told me to wait in the car and after some hours passed, he returned with a small plastic container from the pharmacy. On our way back he told me to drive to a nearby lodge so that he could visit one of his clients,” she explained.
She said they waited for the client in one of the rooms, and that he eventually told her to go to another room.
“He said he wanted to tell me the truth as to why I cannot bear a child. He said I will not fall pregnant if I continue to sleep with my husband, but that things will be good if he can have intercourse with me,” she said.
It was during this time that he had forced himself upon her, she said.
The second incident, she told CV, occurred on September 20, 2021, in a room she and her husband rented in Makonde village.
“My husband was away for work when the prophet called me to say he had acquired traditional medicine which would solve my problem.”
She said she felt light-headed after drinking the substance, and only later realised that she had been raped.
The prophet made his first appearance in the Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court on April 25.
In a sworn affidavit, his legal representative, Adv Lufuno Nemukula, said his client will not plead guilty to the two counts of rape as he claims the complainant was his girlfriend at the time. She denied the claim.
Nemukula maintained that this was his client’s first offence and, if released on bail, his client will come to the court.
Magistrate Mukoma Maiwashe granted bail of R3 000 and the case was postponed to June 14 for further investigation.
