Jubiliation as Popular Methodist Church Pastor Accused of R*ping Member Found Innocent

 

A Pastor with Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, Gladman Chauya, who was accused of r*ping a female congregant, was last Friday acquitted of the charges when he appeared before Rusape regional magistrate, Mr Livingstone Chipadza, Manica Post reports.

 

The happy news made scores of relieved Methodist Church in Zimbabwe members dance in jubilation at Mutare Magistrates’ Courts just after Chauya’s acquittal.

 

The pastor was represented by Mutare lawyers, Mr Innocent Mandikate and Mr Justin Fusire, while Mr Malvern Musarurwa represented the State. Delivering judgement on the matter, the magistrate said the complainant’s two witnesses’ testimonies were so contradictory that they cast a doubt to whether any of them were ever informed of the alleged incident or not.

 

He termed the contradictory as “discrepancy”.

 

Mr Chipadza said one of the witnesses, Superintendant Florence Marume, who is also a senior member in the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe as well as in the Zimbabwe Republic Police, was expected to initiate investigations and do something to have the matter reported early.

 

In this matter, the complainant made a report a year later after the alleged rape had taken place.

 

 

He said it also raised eyebrows on why the complainant a 35-year-old woman did not tell her mother or sisters of the alleged rape matter, but confided in Ndebele, a male church elder who stays in Sakubva while she stays in Dangamvura.

 

 

The court also questioned the authenticity of the audio tapes of the phone calls that were played in court.

 

Mr Chipadza said it had been the State’s duty to prove that the phone calls had been between Chauya and the victim’s number and bring in a voice expert, but it failed to do so.

 

“The State should have furnished the court with a printout on the conversations from the service provider and a voice expert should have been brought to court to prove the authenticity of the tapes, but nothing was done. The State was supposed to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the conversations between the two were not mere assumptions,” he said.

 

The State, however, represented by Mr Malvern Musarurwa, said it would appeal against the acquittal.

“Your Worship, may it be put on record that the State wishes to make an appeal on the sentence,” said Mr Musarurwa.

 

In an interview after the court session, Gladman Chauya’s mother could not hide her elation. She failed to contain her tears.

“I am happy. It is refreshing to note that the truth has finally come out. I feel happy to reunite with my beloved son. We are, however, wondering why one would be so determined to fabricate an issue like that,” she said.