A MAN accused of statutory rape has received the sympathy of a magistrate and a prosecutor after appearing in court with a throbbing 12-day-old boner.
Phumuzani Ndlovu, 25, of Nyamandlovu, had one hand on his crotch as he appeared before a Bulawayo magistrate on Monday charged with having sex with a minor.
Ndlovu told magistrate Godwin Sengweni his penis had been erect for 12 days since he had sex with the 15-year-old girl on July 13.
He believes a spell has been cast on him and he pleaded to be released on bail to seek traditional remedies for his condition.
Prosecutor Goodluck Katenaire said: “We are not opposed to bail ... from a humanitarian point of view.”
Magistrate Sengweni, who had earlier asked Ndlovu what he was “suffering from”, appeared to be touched by the man’s hard plight and bailed him to appear on August 15.
“I went to Nyamandlovu District Hospital and they advised me to seek traditional remedies as they said they could not help at all. I was not suffering from this before I slept with the girl,” Ndlovu told the magistrate.
The court heard that the victim alighted from a bus coming from Bulawayo late at night and sought accommodation at Ndlovu’s home at George Silundika Plots in Nyamandlovu. He allegedly had consensual sex with her during the night.
But a day later, Ndlovu is alleged to have gone to the girl’s school looking for her after the boner refused to go away. Teachers at the school called her grandmother who in turn reported the matter to the police.
Ndlovu faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted.