A BIKITA man offered a 56-year-old mentally-challenged woman a half-bar of soap in exchange for sex before dragging her into a nearby bush and raping her after she spurned his advances.
The incident occurred in Chikwariro in Bikita last week when the 38-year-old married man met the victim in a bushy area around 10 pm and asked if he could have sex with her.
The woman refused and the man offered her a half bar of soap as payment.
The woman again vehemently declined the offer which did not go down well with the already sexually charged man who then dragged her into the bush where the sexual attack took place.
Police spokesman for Masvingo province Inspector Tinaye Matake confirmed the incident.
“We received a report from police in Bikita of the arrest of a 38-year-old man who was arrested for raping a 56-year-old mentally challenged woman of the same village.
“The man is said to have offered to pay the woman with a half bar of soap for the services she would have offered but the woman however declined the offer saying she wanted neither the soap as payment nor the sex even if the guy had money,” Inspector Matake said.
“She is said to have told the man that she was no prostitute.”
After the rape, the police spokesman added, the man left the woman sprawled at the spot and went to her place of residence where she was staying with her uncle who had already given up looking for her for that night.
He informed that he had seen the woman in the bush and offered to accompany them to her.
Matake said on arrival they found the woman still lying on the ground before she started narrating her abuse at the hands of the man.
A report was later made to the police leading to the arrest of the man who is in police custody assisting and with investigations.