Munyaradzi Kereke is suing The Standard newspaper for $5 million in damages over two articles headed, “Rape Case Kereke Wants to Suppress” and an editorial write-up, “Kereke must have his day in court”. Kereke allegedly raped the girl at his home in the Vainona suburb of Harare.
A furious Makoni, whose organisation is representing the victim, says Kereke should sue her, not the newspaper. She has been campaigning since last year to have him brought to justice. Using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter she called for a boycott of his ‘post-surgery clinic’ in Mount Pleasant, the Kereke Rock Foundation. Makoni says most of his businesses are struggling as a result.
She believes she has sufficient documentary evidence to secure a conviction against Kereke, but the police docket on the rape case is ‘stuck’ at the Attorney General’s office. The matter was reported at Highlands Police Station in November last year, and police requested a medical report.
The victim was referred to the Family Support Trust unit at Parirenyatwa Hospital, where Makoni said a certified government doctor confirmed the girl had been raped. Part of the evidence in the case also includes a testimony from the girl’s 15-year-old sister who, it’s alleged, Kereke also tried to rape at some point.
With the parents of the girls said to be divorced and the mother in the UK while the father is in the United States, Kereke as their uncle was looking after them. On the night in question Makoni told us Kereke, “took a gun, pointed it at the girl” before raping her. The girl refused to go school for three months after the incident. – SW Radio Africa
Post published in: Africa News