Close friend tells court socialite Mai Jeremaya slept with rape accused willingly

HARARE – A close friend has disclosed that Mai Jeremaya willingly slept with one of the two men accused of sexually assaulting her, contradicting the social media personality’s account of the incident.

Thabo Blessing Dube and Martin Charlie stand accused of sexually assaulting the socialite in April this year.

While Mai Jeremaya, real name Ashley Masendeke, steadfastly maintains her allegations, an account by her friend, Cynthia Duringo, has cast further doubt on her allegations. Duringo claimed that the socialite had given consent for the encounter.

During her testimony on Tuesday, Duringo claimed that Mai Jeremaya had watched some of her skits with the two men accused of raping her before her ordeal.

“She told me that the two were taking her to their boss, and when they got to the reception, they spent some time chatting and watching her skits.

“She told me that later on, someone directed her to a room that had two doors, and one of her assailants went with her, and the other one used the other door to get in.

“She said that’s when she saw that it wasn’t an ordinary meeting, but just played along so that they wouldn’t hurt her as she had seen a gun,” she said.

Duringo also claimed that although the socialite had given consent for the encounter, she had grown uncomfortable during intercourse.

Duringo claimed that Mai Jeremaya had agreed to stay in the room and have sex with a light-skinned man because he spoke to her nicely. The sex, she said, was voluntary.

“She said the encounter was very long because she didn’t like it, and there was someone who kept coming in and out of the room, which made her uncomfortable.

“She told me that after the encounter, she was given US$10, which she used to come back home,” said Ms Duringo.