The Sunday News
Debra Matabvu Harare Bureau—
PROPHETIC, Healing and Deliverance Ministries leader Prophet Walter Magaya was on Friday arrested in Harare for allegedly raping a congregant. Sources told our Harare Bureau he spent the night at Rhodesville Police Station, and he was released on US$2 000 bail by a magistrate yesterday. The PHD founder appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Vakayi Chikwekwe just before lunch, and in addition to the US$2 000, he was ordered to surrender his passport, not to interfere with witnesses and report to Harare Central Police Station three times weekly as part of his bail conditions. Magaya was not asked to plead.
The State says sometime in June 2015, Magaya invited the 25-year-old complainant to a house in Mount Pleasant, Harare and allegedly showed her around the place before leaving her alone in a room.
A while later, it is alleged, Magaya returned to the room in the nude and raped her once, thereafter giving her US$200. The prosecution says the woman told her lover about the alleged abuse in July 2016 and a police report was made.
The State also says there are audio recordings of Magaya and the woman with issues surrounding the alleged rape. Magaya was represented by Mr Everson Chatumbudza of Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practioners, assisted by Mr Oliver Marawa. Mr Gwinyiya Shumba prosecuted.
Magaya arrived at the court uncuffed in a double-cab vehicle and escorted by two police detectives. He chuckled as photojournalists captured him entering the building where some of his congregants knelt and greeted him as he walked into Court 6.
Sporting a shirt, black trousers and black shoes, Magaya appeared relaxed and occasionally chatted with a Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services officer as his wife sat in the gallery.
He showed no reaction throughout the proceedings and walked outside after being granted bail to the sight of some PHD congregants kneeling, followers singing the popular chorus “Mhururu Kumatenga”. Magaya laid hands on them before being whisked away in an orange Ford Ranger truck.
