KWEKWE The senior police officer who is facing two counts of raping a junior colleague allegedly tried to bribe the complainant in a bid to make her drop the case, The Zimbabwean learnt early this week. On Tuesday last week, we reported that Chief Superintendent Phineas Muhedziwa, formerly the Officer Commanding Kwekwe district, had been suspended by police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, pending trial for his alleged rape of a junior officer (name supplied) stationed at Redcliff police station.
Internal police sources on Monday further revealed that the senior police officer, who allegedly raped his junior inside a police vehicle, offered the complainant R200 in his desperate bid to have her withdraw the case, which has since been transferred from the Gweru Regional Court to the Bulawayo Regional Court.
The complainant refused to accept the money and reported this harassment to her superiors, said a junior police officer privy to the case.
As a result, the complainant requested and was granted an inter-provincial transfer from Redcliff to Bulawayo province, so that she would escape the latest bid by Muhedziwa.
The transfer was also granted so that she would be allowed to testify in her native Xhosa language. After Muhedziwas suspension, Superintendent Richman Madiro took over as the acting Officer Commanding Kwekwe, but a Superintendent Mbedzi is said to be currently in charge of the district, as Madiro is said to be on leave.
Muhedziwa has benefited from President Robert Mugabes politics of patronage. He was fast-tracked from the position of assistant inspector in Masvingo to his current rank without sitting for a single promotional examination.
Muhedziwa is said to have attained the rank of chief superintendent early this year, after acting like many other police superintendents – as a Zanu (PF) election agent during last years presidential run-off.
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