GWERU police say they are investigating an alleged sex attack on a 30-year-old man by two women last Friday – the latest in more than a dozen such incidents which have left police grappling for answers.
The latest victim, according to police, was a hitch-hiker who was flagging down lifts to Harare at AMTEC petrol station along Lobengula Way in the city.
Just after 9PM on April 29, the victim was approached by a woman described as in her late forties or early fifties who struck a conversation after revealing she was also travelling to Harare.
Moments later, police say a black Toyota Cauding driven by a woman with a male passenger at the back, pulled-up.
“The driver said he could only take two passengers going to Harare. Our complainant got into the back and the woman boarded in the front seat,” said Midlands police spokesman Inspector Patrick Chademana.
Police say a few kilometres out of Gweru, the driver indicated she needed fuel and appeared to slow down into the Consilla Service Station.
“Suddenly, the man sitting at the back with the complainant pulled out a cloth suspected to have had an anaesthetic drug and gagged the complainant until he fell unconscious,” Inspector Chademana said.
When the man finally regained consciousness, he was in a room with a brown carpet and a two-seat leather sofa. The man he was a passenger with in the car had armed himself with a knife, police say.
“The complainant says the two women then stripped naked and advanced towards him. He was then forced to have unprotected sex with the two women at knife point,” said Chademana.
Following the attack, police say the victim was again gagged with the same cloth until he lost consciousness.
He woke up in the early hours of Saturday morning and found himself in the bush near St Patrick’s turn-off along the Gweru-Harare highway.
He had been robbed of US$70 cash, a mobile phone and personal items valued agt US$180.
Added Chademana: “We are appealing to members of the public who might have information on the whereabouts of the suspects to report to any nearest police station.
“We also urge all travellers and members of the public to desist from boarding private transport to reduce the risk of being robbed or raped by unidentified individuals.”
The latest incident will do little to ease public anxiety over growing cases of men being raped by women.
It is the second such incident to be handled by Gweru police. Dozens more cases have been reported in Masvingo, Chitungwiza, Harare, Beatrice, Bindura and Shurugwi.
In August last year, police chief Augustine Chihuri spoke for the first time about the attacks, admitting police were struggling to unravel the mystery.
“We now have a few men going to the police stations reporting such cases. Women seem to be fast overtaking men. I don’t know why, and maybe as time goes on we will know why,” Chihuri said.