By Rex Mphisa
THE rape trial of of Nyasha Tayiya twisted and turned on Wednesday with a trial within a trial as allegations of extortion, blackmail and plots and sub plots of tampering with evidence were made in court.
Tayiya, the director of Cool Time Ice Cream, is accused of raping his employee allegedly after lacing her beverage with an unknown substance, a charge he vehemently denies.
He says the complainant not named to protect her dignity was his lover and the act was consensual.
His lawyer Tawonga Musina of Musina Attorneys on Thursday charged his client had not raped but was a victim of drummed up and orchestrated accusations by State Witness Sisasenkosi Nsingo the first person to be told of the ordeal by the complaint.
During cross examination Musina played an audio from his phone he said was a recorded conversation between Nsingo and someone where a deal to structure a deal to get “compensaion” from Tayiya was made.
“That is your voice on that audio and these rape allegations between two people in love were initiared by yourself trying to get money from the accused. Is that not so? 5hese two were lovers,” Musina said.
He said the two had played a game of snooker at an entertainment place before going to nest at a lodge outside the border town.
He also said unlike submissions made in court Tayiya had bought his lover a cider and not a soft drink.
“And in this audio you were discussing an issue of $3 000 you wanted given to the woman by her lover,” Musina said handing the phone to the interpreter to translate the audio evidence, the first such in the court.
Nsingo denied the allegations and said she never made any proposals to get money.
Instead, she said, these were made to her by another church member known to Tayiya and herself who attempted to make her call Musina which she refused.
“The woman insisted that I call Tayiya’s lawyer but I refused and instead said Musina should call me and not ths other way round. The audios represent the side Musina wanted the court to hear and she also recorded conversations that showed who started conversations,” she said.
About four different audios were played but Nsingo said nothing linked her with initiating any demand for US$3 000.
Earlier in the trial she said Tayiya after seeing the complainant was no longer in control of herself moved her onto the front of the motorcycle to support her and the structre of a motorbike made it possible for a human to fit without falling.
She rebuffed suggestions that if the complainant was drunk she would have falled when Tayiya stopped at the gate of the lodge.
“Motorcyclists balance at traffic lights and still proceed without falling so its not true she would have fallen because he balanced her,” she said.
In response to how much she trusted he victim Nsingo said she had known her for a long time hence she was able to see something was wrong with her.
Tayiya is alleged to have raped the live-in worker he took out in the pretext of showing her operations at work.
The complainant on the day of trial commencement broke down as she narrated the events.
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.
The trial continues this week when the State will call the investigating officer.