Staff Reporter.
A 32-YEAR-OLD man has been slapped with a 15-year jail term for raping and robbing a sex worker.
Thobani Moyo from Ntabenende area in Esigodini pleaded not guilty to rape and robbery charges but was convicted by Gwanda regional magistrate Sibonginkosi Mkandla due to overwhelming evidence.
The court heard that on the 11th of March Moyo met the complainant at a bottle store at Ntabenende Business Centre where she was drinking with her friends.
He approached the complainant and offered to pay for her services and she agreed and they proceeded to the accused’s house.
At the house, the complainant demanded to see the money which Moyo was going to give her first before she could entertain him. Moyo refused and insisted on producing the money after they were done.
The complainant refused and threatened to leave if the accused person was not going to show her the money.
Moyo then produced a knife and threatened to stab the complainant if she did not comply with his orders.
He ordered the complainant to remove her clothes and went on to rape her. He further took R200 which the complainant had and her cell phone and ordered her to leave.
The court also heard that the complainant fled to a neighbouring house where she narrated what the accused person had done to her. The matter was reported to the police resulting in the arrest of the accused person.
In his defence the accused person said he engaged the complainant who is a commercial sex worker for her services. He said when they left the business centre; they had agreed that he would pay her R150 in exchange for her services.
He said after they were done the complainant started demanding R200 as payment and refused to leave his house insisting that he pays the extra R50.
He said he forcibly removed her from his house and the complainant threatened to “fix him” and that’s when she went on to fabricate the allegations.
He argued that he did not rape the complainant as she had consented to sexual intercourse.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison of which three years were suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within the next five years. He will serve an effective 12-year jail sentence.
