The Sunday News
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A GUIDE employed by a tour operating company in Victoria Falls who was being accused of touching a client’s backside while swinging on a wire across the Zambezi River, has been acquitted.
Victoria Falls magistrate Ms Rangarirai Gakanje on Thursday said the complainant had failed to show to the court how the accused, Knowledge Mathe touched her as claimed. The magistrate said the State failed to prove its case hence it was not proper to place Mathe on his defence.
“Assuming this transpired, the court does not see how then this would be an indication that he then had the intention to pat her buttocks or actually did so whichever the case may be. The court is further not satisfied as to how the complainant could have distinguished the hand from any piece of equipment in use on that day,” said the magistrate.
The complainant (25), who is employed by the Ministry of Health and Child Care at Mpilo Central Hospital and stays in Gwabalanda, Bulawayo, had claimed that she felt a human hand patting her buttocks.
The accused, speaking through his lawyer, Mr Givemore Mviringi of Mviringi and Partners had pleaded not guilty to indecent assault saying the contact may have been with some equipment used to strap clients while on a gorge swing.
The alleged indecent assault took place in May and the complainant reported in September. She said she did not report to the police because she was not aware that she could file charges, and only opened a case when she noticed that the tour operating company had not punished Mathe hence she now wanted the court to discipline him.
In defence, Mr Mviringi said the charges filed by the woman were an afterthought after failing to strike a deal with the company.
The company had offered the complainant a refund with an option to redo the activity. She allegedly demanded that her siblings, father and sister accompany her and be catered for transport, food and accommodation which would have cost the tour operating company about $5 000. Mr Takunda Ndovorwi prosecuted. -@ncubeleon
