Supt Paul Nyathi

Crime Reporter

Female “rapists” have resurfaced following recent reported cases in which two men were sexually assaulted after they were offered lifts by seven women in two separate incidents in Harare.National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed the incidents and said investigations were in progress. “On May 27, 2017 at around 4pm, the complainant, aged 37, boarded a blue Nissan Bluebird at the Coca-Cola bus stop along Seke Road intending to go to Chitungwiza.

“The vehicle had three occupants, comprising one male who was the driver and two female passengers. On boarding the vehicle, the complainant was joined by another female adult,” he said.

He said along the way, the driver claimed he wanted to evade a police roadblock and diverted the route and used Delport Road so he could reconnect with Seke Road farther down.

“On the way, one of the females who had boarded the vehicle together with the complainant, drew what appeared to be a pistol and force-marched the complainant into a bushy area along Delport Road.

“One of the females forced the complainant to have sexual intercourse with him without his consent while another female accused forced the complainant to drink an unknown liquid which left the complainant unconscious,” Chief Supt Nyathi said. In a related incident, a man boarded a white Toyota Noah with five unknown accused persons from Beatrice to Harare last week.

Along the way, the man was offered a drink by one of the female suspects and he became unconscious after drinking it. “When the complainant gained consciousness he discovered that he had been abused.

“We would like to urge members of the public to be on the lookout for a group of men and women who are giving unsuspecting victims transport and end up abusing them,” Chief Supt Nyathi said.

He appealed to anyone with information that might assist them with investigations to contact any nearest police station or the National Complaints Desk on (04) 703631. “The law will certainly take its course on perpetrators of sexual violence,” Chief Supt Nyathi said.

In August last year, police were looking for four women who sexually molested a 29-year-old man they had offered a lift from Mbudzi roundabout in Harare to the city centre. The women allegedly drugged their victim until he passed out before they abused him. The four women were travelling in a Toyota Raum.

Batsirai Madzingira had disembarked from a bus from Masvingo and waited for transport into the city centre before he was offered a lift in the Toyota Raum, which had four female adults including the driver.

In September 2015, two women allegedly indecently assaulted a 29-year-old man at gunpoint after offering him a lift from Magunje Growth Point to Karoi in Mashonaland West province.