Lobels Biscuits boss case: rape victim collapses w...

Lobels Biscuits boss case: rape victim collapses while giving evidence in court

Zim Now Writer

The trial of Lobels Biscuits’ chief operations manager in Bulawayo Andrew Dinhidza has been postponed to March 22, 2023 after one of the five victims in the rape trial collapsed while giving her evidence.

The manager appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Joseph Mabeza facing eight counts of rape and one count of aggravated indecent assault and he pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

The victim, who cannot be named for ethical reasons, collapsed while explaining to the court how Dinhidza sexually abused her under the promise that he was going to give her a permanent post within the company.

"I started working at Lobels Biscuits in 2009 and l was a contract worker for a long time. Dinhidza then called me and gave me an offer that if l wanted a permanent post l had to have sex with him. l ignored the offer.

"After some time, he called me when l was at work, and we met outside the work premises and he ordered me to get into his car. While l was inside, he then told me that if l wanted a permanent job l had to sleep with him," narrated the victim.

She added the manager raped her while inside the car.

"After hearing that, l tried to leave the car and he locked the doors. He lowered the car seat, undressed me and then raped me again.

"After that he ordered me to go back to work. I went back while covered with an apron as some buttons of the dress that l was wearing had come out," she said.

She added that sometime in 2021, he called her and told her to meet him at a lodge in the city centre where she thought she was going to sign the documents for a permanent job.

"I tried to inquire on what was happening and he pushed me to the bed and raped me and he threatened that there was nothing that l could do to him.

"I continued working as a contract employee without being promoted and sometime in May last year, he called me again to his office and when l got there, he demanded to have sex with me. l refused and said it was better for me to quit the job," she said.

However, the victim collapsed when the prosecutor, Acumen Khupe, asked her to tell the court if Dinhidza wore a condom during the alleged series of sexual abuse leading to the postponement of the trial.