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Yeukai Karengezeka, Court Correspondent

A manager at one of Nando’s fast-food outlets, who was being accused of raping a co-worker twice in 2022, walked out of court a free man after he was acquitted.

Xolisani Gama (47) was found not guilty and acquitted of rape at the close of the State case by Harare regional magistrate Mr Taurai Manuwere after the State failed to prove its case.

Three witnesses were led including the complainant who gave a contradictory account of when, where, and how the rape occurred.Under cross examination, evidence from Simbisa log in system, manual register and shop paperwork provided, proved the complainant was not at the alleged place on the day in question.  She then implicated one Benjamin as the one who advised her on which date to state.

During cross-examination, Gama’s lawyer Mr Tafadzwa Muvhami argued that the complainant framed his client after she was denied a transfer to work at Chicken Inn.

She told the court that she had forgotten the exact dates and months when the two incidents occurred as she solely relied on her diary.

She denied ever suffering from memory loss but only stated that she suffered from stress and trauma after the “alleged” rape occurred.

It was the State’s case that Gama and the complainant were doing a walk-through at their workplace when he locked a toilet door and raped the complainant before committing the same offence on another day.

It is alleged that the complainant reported the matter to the human resources manager and the issue was taken to the complaints committee but the accused was found not guilty after internal investigations.

The complainant, however, felt short-changed and reported the matter to the police.