State closes Prophet Freddy case

THE State closed its case yesterday in the case in which Goodness and Mercy Ministries leader Prophet Tapiwa Freddy is being accused of rape.

Five witnesses - the complainant, her aunt, her uncle Chief Chikwaka, a former police officer Gibson Jaji, Family Trust councillor Alice Muridzwa and an IT expert from the ZRP - testified.

Freddy’s lawyer Everson Chatambudza, told presiding magistrate, Gloria Takundwa, he intends to file an application for discharge, on January 31.

Prosecutor Sheila Mupindu will file her response on February 4 and a ruling will be made on February 8 on whether he will be discharged or he will be put to his defence.

Mupindu yesterday led evidence from three witnesses.

Jaji, a former police officer, told the court he was called by Witness Bungu (Chief Chikwaka) advising him Freddy had raped his niece and was coming to apologise for the rape.

“We then spoke to the complainant, she narrated her story and most of the time she would cry but what took centre stage was the abuse at her workplace by Freddy, and she was called several names, by his personal assistant.

“She only told us that what happened was what we had been told by the chief.

“Freddy then asked to talk to the complainant in private and they spoke for about 20 minutes and they told us they had agreed to fix relations between the complainant and Freddy’s personal assistant, as well as with management at work,” he said.

Jaji further told the court the chief was unhappy with the outcome of the meeting because he expected the complainant to raise the rape issue.

“The chief said he was not happy with the outcome as he expected the complainant to raise her rape issue.

“I indicated to the complainant that if she had anything to report, any crime against Freddy, she could tell me but she told me that she couldn’t report and I encouraged her to make a police report.

“The chief told us he was going to make consultations with the complainant’s parents, on the issue of a sexual relationship that had occurred between the two before a year had lapsed since the death of the complainant’s husband, and said would call us five days later.”

Asked why he didn’t arrest Freddy, Jaji told the court the complainant didn’t make a formal report.

“It was never mentioned that there was no consent and, from my observations, the two had a relationship between them and had a consensual sexual relationship.

“I was a seasoned officer for 29 years and, from my assessment, there was nothing for me to arrest him for, but if a report had been made, I would have arrested him.”

Next to testify was Alice Muridzwa, a support officer at Family Support Trust.

“She told me somewhere along the lines a prominent person had started proposing love to her and she wasn’t comfortable as a year hadn’t lapsed (since the death of her husband).

“She then mentioned that in November 2020, he forced himself on her and she started feeling suffocated in the relationship as he would want to know where she was at any particular time.

“I understood that because sexual-based violence brings to shame women and because she was an adult, I understood that she could determine what she wanted to do with her life,” she said.

Muridzwa was quizzed by Chatambudza on whether it made sense to her that the complainant was raped first, then fell in love with Freddy, the alleged rapist? She said she had no comment.

Chatambudza also said Muridzwa was not an independent witness because of the relationship between the complainant’s employer and her employer.

IT expert Takundwa Victor confirmed that he had extracted the recordings played by the State in court, from the complainant’s phone, and nothing had been tampered with.