Barbara Ngwenya, Chief Inspector in the ZRP for Harare, said: “This causes problems especially when we have to go to court because we need a rape kit to show the court. “In the rape kit we have things such as the man’s semen, clothing materials from the victim, as well as any other items that can be used as evidence in court.
“There is only one doctor, or scientist as you might want to call him, who can approve that the semen is from the perpetrator. Without him we cannot proceed with prosecution. In Zimbabwe we only have one doctor who can do this and this is a very big problem for rape victims.”
Ngwenya said some cases that had not been dealt with for more than six months because the rape kit had not been approved. “We are also facing a serious shortage of detergents which are used to test the semen to find out whether or not it is genuine and is from the man allegedly charged,” she said. “Semen testing cannot be done without these detergents and we, therefore, need cash urgently to buy the detergents otherwise the process will take even longer.
Post published in: Politics