By Rex Mphisa and Panashe Karidzagundi
A 38-year-old rape suspect and director of Cool Time Ice cream company Nyasha Tayiya has fled his residence in the midst of his trial which commenced at the Beitbridge regional court where his alleged victim broke down and wept during proceedings.
Tayiya’s landlord who requested anonymity said he was nowhere to be seen at he house he rented and had left “a bed and a few things hard to carry”.
He reportedly gave his employees the carts used to carry his crimes asking them to start their own ventures.
Tayiya was in court Tuesday where his alleged victim and employee broke down as she narrated how he allegedly laced a drink with an unknown substance which knocked her out only to wake up in a lodge.
She told magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba she had “whitish stuff with blood” on her privates although she does not remember how this came upon her.
The victim said she became dizzy and finally was blacked out as he carried her on a motorcycle in first at the back, then in front as they rode on a dust road where she passed out.
Tayiya had taken her out “to show her some new things at work” where she had just been recruited as a maiden unknown to men.
She narrated her ordeal rom when she got a drink and began to feel light and strange when he took her on his motorbike until she was almost unable to control herself.
Tayiya is denying the rape charge saying they love birds and the sexual encounter was consensual.
Through his lawyer Tawonga Musina of Musina Law Attorneys, Tayiya insisted the victim was his girlfriend which she denied.
“Why would I be reporting if I was his girlfriend, if I was bored he was not giving attention zi would have simply told his wife,” she said in between her sobs.
In his defence Tayiya said his victim was changing goal posts because she felt used after he denied her attention after their consensual encounter at a lodge outside town.
Musina, in cross examination of the victim, also accused the victim of lying yet she willingly walked into the lodge and some people had seen and even talked with her.
“As I have said earlier, I cannot remember anything, I was made useless by the drink and it kept getting worse until I could not do anything,” she said repeatedly without changing her position.
Tayiya’s rape charge arose from an incident allegedly involving the alleged victim who worked for him.
Prosecutor Olivia Chamutiya alleged the complainant, her name withheld for dignity, was employed by Tayiya and resided at the same premises as her employer.
On April 8, 2026, Tayiya instructed the complainant to meet him in the Tshitaudze area of Beitbridge.
The pair travelled together on a motorbike to a leisure place along Bulawayo Road, where they spent some time before the accused allegedly bought the complainant a soft drink.
She began feeling unusually dizzy and disoriented.
She said her condition worsened and that she later lost consciousness.
She further testified that she later regained consciousness inside a room at a lodge in somewhere unknown to her where she allegedly found her clothes removed and placed on a coffee table.
She dressed herself before noticing stains on her undergarments, leading her to suspect that sexual intercourse had taken place while she was unconscious.
The complainant said she was later transported back to Beitbridge town by Tayiya and did not immediately report the matter.
She told the court that after reflecting on the events and discussing them with a confidante, Sisasenkosi Nsingo, she eventually reported the incident.
Chamutiya alleged that Tayiya unlawfully and intentionally had sexual intercourse with the complainant without her consent.
Tayiya has denied the charge, maintaining that the events of the day were pre-arranged and mutually agreed upon.
The continuation of their trial is scheduled for Thursday next week, but on Wednesday Tayiya bolted from his Medium Density Suburb lodgings.