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'I'll blow your head off'
02/08/2007 17:02 - (SA)
Scottburgh - A woman who was crying as a rapist removed her bikini pants was told by her rapist to "shut up" or he would "blow her head off", the Scottburgh High Court heard on Thursday.
The woman, who cannot be identified, was the third of three alleged rape victims to give testimony before the court in trial where Mthokozisi Mbambo, 29, Sithembiso Shelembe, 23, and Wonder Mchunu, 26 are accused of raping her and two other women at a beach-house in Pennington, south of Scottburgh, on December 29 last year.
Mbambo has also been charged with attempted murder.
Mbambo was diagnosed as being HIV "as far back as 2000" according to the indictment. The indictment said that Mbambo raped the women "in spite of his knowledge of the potential transmission of a virus leading to fatal consequences".
'It's made me uncertain of myself'
The woman testifying on Thursday told the court that Mbambo "pushed my shoulders onto the bed so that I was lying and then he tried to remove my swimming costume.
"Then I started crying and I couldn't breathe. Accused number one (Shelembe) came and told me to shut up. If I continued he (Shelembe) would blow my head off.
"Then I just closed my eyes and tried to calm myself and then someone raped me, I didn't look, I don't know who, because my eyes were closed."
She was unable to tell the court whether it had been Shelembe or Mbambo who raped her.
Asked how the ordeal had affected her, she said: "It's made me uncertain of myself and scared a lot. I'm always expecting something to happen.
"Like when I'm walking down the road I am always expecting someone to jump out of a bush. I wasn't always expecting the worst (before the December 29 attack)."
'I would say it was a lie'
She said that her parents had battled to deal with the ordeal. "They don't always know how to handle the situation."
Asked by Advocate Dean Govender whether she had been mistaken about the identity of Shelembe, she replied: "I saw him. No two people look the same except if he has a twin brother."
One of the two men who was braaing meat and then had to watch the women's ordeal at gunpoint said: "I was seated on the floor. I couldn't do anything."
When told by Advocate Dean Govender that his client (Shelembe) claimed to be at home on December 29, the man said: "I would say it was a lie."
The court heard on Wednesday how the three men were arrested by the Port Shepstone dog unit on the morning of January 6.
On Wednesday forensics expert Superintendent Huibrecht Botha told the court that DNA testing of blood samples taken from Shelembe and Mchunu as well as from two cigarette butts and semen stain on a piece of cloth had linked the two men to the rape victims.
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