I REFUSED BEING MILKED MONEY - LAB RAPE ACCUSED

MANZINI – The lab technician accused of rape, claims his ‘sin’ was to refuse to fall into the trap of allegedly being milked money.

Benson Alulu Shimbira (47), who is employed as a lab technician at Dvokolwako Health Centre, made this claim when applying for bail at the High Court before Judge Titus Mlangeni on Monday. He claimed that *Sindi, who was now accusing him of rape, was trying to extort him and he did not fall into the trap. He submitted that on May 1, 2021, he was arrested by police officers from Mliba Police Station, who charged him for contravening Section 3(3) as read with (9) (C) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act 15/2018. He said on April 5, 2021, he left his workplace and he was heading to Fairview in Manzini where he was staying with his wife and two children. He claimed that while he was by the gate of the health centre, at a bus stop, he was stopped by an unknown woman, who requested a lift to Manzini and he offered her. On their way, he alleged that the woman told her that she was Sindi from Dvokolwako and that she was going to Fairview, but her challenge was that she did not have bus fare.

Submitted

He submitted that when they reached Manzini, he told her that he was going to buy a few things before proceeding to Fairview. Thereafter, he alleged that the woman requested to give him her cellphone number so that he could call her when he was done for purposes of proceeding with her to Fairview. He later called her as per her request and they proceeded to Fairview. He alleged that he dropped her off at St Paul’s Bus Stop. On April 16, 2021, the accused alleged that he called the woman, who then informed him that she had been diagnosed with a heart disease, and had been advised to conduct some tests. He alleged that Sindi also enquired whether Dvokolwako Health Centre could be of any assistance and he responded to the affirmative. He claimed that the woman promised to come for the tests on the following day (April 17, 2021).

He also told the court that the following morning, the woman called him and informed him that her sickness was getting worse. “She requested me to go and fetch her from home, but I told myself that if this was true, she ought to have called an ambulance, not me. This annoyed me because I thought she was abusing my kindness and ended up not coming to the hospital as per her promise,” the lab technician submitted. Thereafter, he claimed that at around 1pm on Sunday April 19, 2021, he was allegedly called by the same woman and she requested to meet him and he told her that she was free to come to the hospital. He alleged that she arrived shortly after the call and they met at the gate, where she allegedly told him that on April 17, 2021, she ended up going to Good Shepherd Mission Hospital.  

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