POLICE have warned men against letting down their guard insisting the three suspected female rapists arrested in Gweru could be part of a wider syndicate with parts of the network potentially still active across the country.
Rosemary Chakwizira, 24, Sophie Nhokwara, 26, and Netsai Nhokwara, 24, appeared in court late Friday charged with seventeen counts of aggravated indecent assault after their alleged victims picked them out at an identity parade in Harare.
They are charged along with Thulani Ngwenya, 24, who is Sophie Nhokwara's boyfriend. The women, all from Gweru, were arrested on Sunday after trying to retrieve 31 used condoms at an accident scene -- three of them half full with semen.
The arrests provided the first break in police investigations of a spate of alleged rapes of male hitch-hikers around the country by women said to have been driving expensive vehicles. The women are said to have collected the semen of their victims for suspected ritual purposes.
But police believe the frequency and geographical spread of the attacks suggests more women could be involved.
“People should not relax now that these suspects have been arrested. We believe a syndicate is operating in various parts of the country,” Harare police spokesman Inspector James Sabau told state media.
He said preliminary investigations suggested a ritual link to the collection of victims’ semen.
“We are still trying to figure out why semen was collected. Information we have gathered so far links the entire female rapist issue to rituals that make people rich,” he said.
“It is, however, still unclear how the supposed rituals work.”
Meanwhile, the three suspects and Ngwenya were remanded in custody to October 28 when they appeared before a Harare magistrate last Friday.
They were arrested after Ngwenya ran over and killed a pedestrian while driving a red Chevrolet Aveo owned by Sophie Nhokwara.
Police examining the vehicle following the accident were approached by the three women with a suspicious request to pick up some condoms.