Teacher rapes, tricks victim into abortion

A Hatcliffe Primary School teacher appeared in court for allegedly raping his girlfriend and tricking her into taking abortion pills after she fell pregnant.

Taurai Chikoto (34) appeared before Harare magistrate Ms Victoria Mashamba yesterday on charges of rape and unlawful termination of pregnancy.

The matter was remanded to today for bail considerations.

Prosecuting, Ms Linda Gadzikwa alleged that sometime in January, the complainant left her spectacles in Chikoto’s vehicle. Chikoto was her boyfriend at the time.

On February 2, the complainant met Chikoto in Hatcliffe and asked for her spectacles.

Chikoto informed her that they were in his house and that they should go and collect them. When they got to the house, Chikoto allegedly remained in the car while the complainant went into the house to get her spectacles.

When she failed to locate them, Chikoto suggested that they go back into the house together to look for the spectacles. Chikoto then locked the door from inside and raped her.

On April 3, the complainant allegedly went to the accused’s workplace to tell him that she was pregnant.

Chikoto then reportedly took the complainant into the Harare central business district (CBD) where they met his friend, who gave the complainant some pills he claimed to be painkillers.

The friend gave the complainant three packs of different pills. After taking the pills, the complainant started bleeding.

She suspected the pills and looked them up on the Internet and she realised they were associated with abortion.

The complainant’s belly started swelling and she went to Trauma Centre in Borrowdale on April 13, where she got a scan, which showed that the foetus was in breech presentation. The Herald