Guard arrested for rape 3 years later after prophecy exposes his crime

By Melody Baya

A SECURITY guard at St Columbus High School in Bulawayo has been arrested for allegedly raping a girl in 2013 when she was 14 years old.

Tito Gumbo, 58, of Cowdray Park suburb, appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Themba Chimiso facing a rape charge.

He was not asked to plead and was remanded in custody to tomorrow for bail hearing.

Gumbo allegedly raped the girl, now aged 17, and the incident was exposed during a prophesy at her church.

“I didn’t tell anyone about the incident until one day at church when one of the prophets prophesied that there was a girl in the church who had been raped and had kept the issue to herself. I then confirmed the prophecy to be true after church to the prophet and my family,” said the teenager.

Prosecuting, Mufaro Mageza told the court that sometime in February 2013 at around 9PM, the teenager met Gumbo when she was coming from the shops in Cowdray Park suburb.

“As she was passing by the accused person’s house, she was called by the accused person who was sitting outside the house. He then asked her to get into the house and get him his shoe polish. The complainant refused but the accused threatened to report her to her parents for being disrespectful to elders and so she complied,” said Mageza.

While inside the house, Gumbo allegedly followed her and locked the door from inside.

He then allegedly grabbed her and pushed her onto a sofa before raping her once without using protection.

Mageza said Gumbo threatened to send people to kill her if she told anyone about the incident. The Chronicle