By Khahliso Ncube
Two teenagers believed they could get drunk without spending their money but feeding off grown men until tragedy struck.
The two (names withheld) from Pumula suburb one day found their target at a popular nightspot in Bulawayo but little did they know they were in for the highest jump.
Their “target” bought them drinks for the whole night until midnight when he suggested they go get some food from one of his friends with a restaurant in the plush suburb of Burnside. It was around 3am but that didn’t matter for the two because they were getting what they wanted.
One of them told B-Metro that they sized their “target” up and seeing he was driving a vehicle that seemed to be a Government Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), he must have been a senior civil servant and they trusted his pockets as surety.
“When he suggested food, we did not think twice because we had been drinking for the whole night and not eating anything. When we got out of the bar we saw the car he was driving and we thought he was harmless,” said one of the women.
He drove to their destination, a big house with a wall up high and a big gate. That’s when they asked themselves what was going on. After all the house didn’t look like a restaurant.
“When we got to Burnside we took many turns and l got confused but l was the only one awake because my friend had dosed off. We got to a big house with a large wall and gate and at that moment my mind told me something bad was about to happen because l have never come across a food joint hidden between houses,” she added.
They got inside the house but instead of food their host became rude.
“We went inside the house and everything changed as he became rude towards us,” she said.
The worst was about to happen.
“He went to one of the rooms and came back carrying a rope. He tied us and raped us without a condom. After he was done he dumped us on the roadside and we were found by people who took us to the hospital after calling the police,” she added.
At the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) they were given PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) a drug that is taken when one has been potentially exposed to HIV to prevent becoming infected.
The two girls chose not to follow the issue up with the police because they are scared of what their parents would do to them (they are under-18 years of age).
A woman who claims to have driven them to hospital, a Mrs Mahlangu, said she was the one who made the police report.
“I saw what looked like rubbish bags and when l got closer l saw that it was two girls tied up. I uncovered their mouths to find out what had happened and they told me half the story and l decided to call the police,” she said. B-Metro.
