By Rex Mphisa
A woman from Tshaswingo reportedly fought off a would-be rapist who broke into her home Sunday night.
Efforts to get comment from Beitbridge District Officer Commanding Police Chief Superintendent Mesuli Ncube were fruitless.
He however complained the statement the suspected serial rapist was hiding in the mountains was incorrectly attributed to him.
“You misquoted me,”he said before dropping his call.
But reports from Tshaswingo on Monday said the woman from haRaphiel had been attacked by a man who broke into her house at night.
She resisted the bully and suspected rapist and he fled, a source said.
“I do not have any phone numbers, I was informed by our senior village head here at Number 2. The person who was attacked is a relative of the senior village head,” said the source.
The pattern of the Tshaswingo suspect is consistent,with peevious reports from areas around Chamnanga, Dite, Nuli and surrounding areas where several women have been violated but without any arrests.
Distress messages from villagers suggest the suspect targetted homes where women lived alone before pouncing.
The messages said he has been on the loose for three months and has disrupted villagers way of life.
“Some children are not going to school while parents have to escort children to school. It seems he has become just as frightening as the lion that lurked in the bushes and was never found,” said a villager from HaMakhavhane.
“After such attacks why are police not bringing their dogs to sniff out this menace or perhaps they waiting for the worst? Very soon the river will subside and he will flee to South Africa,” he said.
The suspect has quickly reminded Beitbridge villagers of another rapist Bonnie who fled to South Africa where he was arrested by farm guards after escaping the ZRP.
Bonnie had been a menace in Matshiloni, Penemene, Tshapfutshe and areas in Beitbridge central.
At national level the suspect is reminding villagers of Anymore Zvitsa who was only arrested after the army was roped in.
It took the army a few days to bring Zvitsva to book and Beitbridge villagers are already asking for a similar intervention.