Freedom at last

Man released from lengthy prison stay after wrongful rape accusation

FREEDOM Day will take on a special meaning for Armandu Nxumalo, a Mozambican national who has regained his liberty after spending more than a year behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

Nxumalo must now pick up the pieces of his life after having been falsely accused by his former girlfriend, of raping his 15-year-old stepdaughter.

While he appeared in court several times, he was never formally convicted and was denied bail, and ended up spending a lengthy time in a KwaMbonambi police station cell.

He was later transferred to Qalakabusha Correctional Centre, a maximum security facility in Empangeni, for over six months.

During his stay at Qalakabusha, Nxumalo said he suffered regular abuse at the hands of other prisoners, resulting in an adverse health condition for which he is now on chronic medication.

'I suffered a lot while I was in prison,' he said.

'My former girlfriend even went so far as to give all my belongings to other men. I lost my job working at a charcoal manufacturing company as a result of the accusation, and now I cannot find other employment as the community views me as a rapist.

'I don’t even have enough money to hire lawyers to sue the state for my wrongful arrest.

‘Once I was released due to a lack of evidence, it came out that my stepson - who has since been jailed - was the one who raped my stepdaughter.

'Yet I was the one who was arrested without the authorities even conducting a DNA test to prove whether I was actually guilty of the crime or not.’

Nxumalo explained the circumstances behind his arrest, based on false evidence supplied by his girlfriend.

'The accusations began to surface in early January 2020, and I was arrested on 20 January,' Nxumalo told the ZO.

'I told my girlfriend that the accusations were false, and that she should be careful about saying such things, as a rape conviction could have meant a life sentence.'

Nxumalo, his girlfriend and his stepdaughter all slept in the same room, an arrangement Nxumalo said he was uncomfortable with from the start.

'I offered to sleep in the outside room, but my girlfriend refused as she said I would try to sneak other women into this room.

'I even suggested that she should get my stepdaughter to move in with her sisters, again she refused.'

Now justified and exonerated, Nxumalo will have double cause for celebration on Freedom Day.