SIX girls aged between 10 and 13 were sexually abused by a 38-year-old man who lured them into his house with the promise of WILD BERRIES, a court heard.
Maxwell Mbiba, a domestic worker, allegedly targeted his victims as they walked home from school at Phezulu Farm in Fort Rixon, Matabeleland South.
Mbiba, originally from Village 2 in Dorset near Shurugwi, is accused of abusing the girls between June last year and July this year.
He was not asked to plead on six counts of rape when she appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Fadzai Mthombeni on Monday.
He was remanded in custody to December 13 for the continuation of his trial.
Prosecuting, Goodluck Katenaire told the Victim Friendly Court that the victims, all pupils at Phezulu Primary School, were Mbiba’s neighbours at the farm compound.
The court heard Mbiba used several tricks to lure the girls to his room, and the promise of wild berries almost always did the trick. One of the victims was allegedly raped on three separate occasions.
Testifying before Mthombeni on Monday, one of the victims said: “We called him malume (uncle) because he was our neighbour, and it is common to refer to older people in those terms even if they are not related to us.
“I was coming from school and he asked me if I wanted umtshwankela (wild berries), and if I did I had to follow him to his room to get it.”
The girl, 13, told the court that Mbiba kept the wild berries in a see-through plastic bag. After he gave her the fruit, she was then subjected to a sickening sex attack.
A second girl, 11, said she was instructed by Mbiba to go to his room and get the wild berries but as she was searching for it, he walked in and sexually abused her.
Two more girls, aged 11 and 13, were raped in a similar manner after he followed them into his room.
A fifth victim said she found Mbiba sitting on the verandah of a local store, with the shop assistant away. Mbiba invited her inside, pulled her towards him and asked her to sit on his lap before abusing her.
A sixth girl, a Grade Six pupil, told the court that Mbiba was disturbed by one of his past victims while abusing her. She had come for the now popular fruit.
That incident, prosecutors say, led to the girls discussing among themselves about the abuse, and they all agreed to report him to their teachers.
All six girls have been medically examined at a local hospital for sexually-transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Reports from those tests will be presented during the trial which continues on December 13.