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‘My children were forced to rape me’
By
Francis Tayanjah-Phiri - 25-09-2002 |
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A woman reported to have been forced to have sex with her two sons, moved people in the Mzuzu Magistrate Court’s public gallery close to tears yesterday when she gave an account of her ordeal at the hands of the accused, Duncan Theu.
Theu was appearing before Chief Resident Magistrate Dingiswayo Madise to
answer seven charges which include rape, malicious wounding, grievous harm, and indecent assault. He pleaded not guilty to the seven counts.
The woman sobbed as she gave evidence on how she was paraded naked in front of many people and was forced to sleep with her own sons as punishment for the children’s alleged theft of cassava from Theu’s garden in March this year.
“It was horrible. I was first stripped naked, beaten up and forced to have sex with
children from my own body. God is my witness, Mr. Theu took his own hands to
insert the nakedness of the children into me,” said the woman, during cross-examination from Theu’s defence lawyer, Davie Lameck.
Director of Public Prosecution Farhad Assan told court that Theu on the said day, “procured Alick Shaba and Phaskani Shaba, to have carnal knowledge of their mother”.
It is alleged the two children, forced by hunger, had gone to Theu’s garden to steal cassava. After the act, Theu’s workers traced them to their home, where the mother apologised on the sons’ behalf and offered to give three live chickens as a token of apology.
But Theu allegedly tied up the boys and beat them the whole night before summoning the mother to appear before him. He is also accused of giving the same treatment to the mother, burning her with a piece of wood all over her body, including her nakedness, before forcing the boys to rape her while he watched.
She also broke down when the DPP was cross-examining her son, Alick, prompting Madise to adjourn the case for ten minutes to enable her to regain composure.
Theu’s case has drawn intense public interest, leading to large crowds, for the first time since the modern court started operating in year 2000. Some people were said to have travelled from Mzimba to Mzuzu for the hearing, slated for almost the whole week.
During testimony, the woman showed court the lacerations and sores caused by
the firewood burns. She also told court that the accused used a club with nails to lash her buttocks, genital area and back.
The DPP is being assisted by senior state advocate Zione Ntaba in prosecution, while Redson Kapindu is representing the Malawi Human Rights Commission, as “friend of the court”.
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