A girl has testified how the man who claimed to be resurrected singer Khulekani "Mnqumeni" Khumalo raped her.
|||Durban - An 18-year-old girl has testified how the man accused of masquerading as the late maskandi artist Khulekani “Mnqumeni” Khumalo kidnapped and raped her repeatedly over a seven-day period.
Sibusiso “Lazarus” Gcabashe, who claimed last year he had risen from the dead, is on trial in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on charges of fraud, kidnapping, assault, rape, theft and attempting to escape from custody.
He was declared mentally fit to stand trial after psychological evaluation by the State and has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying he knows nothing about the allegations against him.
Taking the stand on Thursday, the teenager said she had first met Gcabashe, whom she knew as “Sphamandla”, in 2008 in the Ixopo area where she lived with her family.
She told the court she had met Gcabashe walking on the road in November 2011, and he had asked her to accompany him to fetch his cellphone.
They both walked to a spot where Gcabashe told her they had to wait for someone to bring them some money.
Nobody came and eventually when the teenager asked Gcabashe what they were going to do, he told her he was taking her to Durban.
“I started crying when he told me this and he dragged me towards the bush.
“I screamed and he slapped me and pinned me to the ground. He pulled down his pants and my underwear and he raped me,” the teenager said, maintaining her composure.
She said that after the rape, the two sat in the bush the entire night, with her sobbing, and Gcabashe threatening her with death if she told anyone what had happened.
The next morning the two walked out of the bush and came upon two women. Gcabashe told them the teenager was his wife and that they had had a traumatic journey and needed shelter and food.
The women took pity on the “couple” and helped them. The teenager said she and Gcabashe stayed at the women’s homestead for four days and three nights, during which time she was raped every night and beaten if she resisted.
When they left, Gcabashe took her to another area where they stayed with an acquaintance of his. There he raped her again.
Eventually, on a day when Gcabashe had left her alone while he visited a sangoma, the teenager told the head of the household what had happened.
Her mother was called and the teenager’s aunt fetched her from the house. She said she later laid a charge of rape against Gcabashe after she saw his picture in a newspaper, in which he claimed to be the late Mnqumeni.
“I was physically, emotionally and spiritually abused by him,” the teen said.
She added that at the time Gcabashe kidnapped her, he was involved in a love relationship with her older sister.
Gcabashe, who is from Magqongqo, was arrested last year after he claimed to be Khumalo, causing a sensation in the Nqutu Magistrate’s Court where he first appeared after being arrested for fraud.
The teenager will be cross-examined on Friday.
Daily News