A 17-year-old Form Four learner from Sakubva, Mutare, is showing extraordinary courage by sitting for her Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) Ordinary Level examinations with both hands heavily bandaged.
This comes after she suffered severe knife wounds while fighting off a naked intruder who had sexually assaulted her elder sister and attempted to rape her.
For most teenagers, the stress of exams is challenge enough. But for the Sakubva learner, whose identity is being withheld due to the sensitive nature of the case, every word she writes comes with searing pain.
Her palms and fingers required stitches after she desperately grabbed the blade of a knife wielded by the attacker during a terrifying ordeal at their OTS section home in the early hours of Saturday, October 10 — just two days before her final Ordinary Level examinations began.
Yet, despite the physical pain and emotional trauma, she refuses to give up on her dreams.
“It is painful to write with sliced fingers and hands. I have stitches all over my hands and experience excruciating pain when writing, but there is no other option but to write,” she said shortly after completing an examination paper recently.
Authorities had granted her an extra 15 minutes per paper due to her injuries.
With tears in her eyes, she recalled being jolted awake on a sofa at around 2am to find a naked man wearing a black mask standing beside her 24-year-old sister.
“My sister, who was under duress, said: ‘Please do not scream.’ At first, I thought they were lovers, but the man ordered me to sit down and not go back to sleep,” she said.
Confused and frightened, she soon noticed a large knife in the intruder’s hand.
He threatened to kill them if they screamed and forced the teenager to watch as he sexually assaulted her elder sister.
During the attack, she began to pray, but the attacker told her to stop, before turning his attention to her and demanding she remove her clothes.
Although her sister pleaded with the intruder to spare her because of her upcoming examinations, her plea fell on deaf ears.
As he moved closer, the teenager made a split-second decision that may have saved her life.
Noticing the knife in his right hand, she grabbed the blade with her bare hands.
A violent struggle ensued as the sharp metal sliced deep into her palms and fingers.
“I believe it was the Holy Spirit that took control of my hands because I had been praying. We struggled for the knife and I pushed him until he hit the stove. He stormed out naked,” she said.
The sisters locked the door, but when the intruder tried to force his way back in, they rushed to secure their younger brother — a Form One learner sleeping in another room — before screaming for help.
Neighbours responded and police arrived around 4am. The teenager described the suspect as tall and light-skinned.
The sisters, who lost both parents, are living under difficult circumstances, with the elder sister taking care of the family and paying her siblings’ education through vegetable vending.
The intruder repeatedly demanded US$6 000, claiming he was told the family kept cash from a second-hand clothing business.
The elder sister said the intruder gained entry by breaking a wooden window and unlocking it from inside, having already searched the house before confronting her.
“He whispered that I should not shout because he had already searched the house and discovered that only children were inside and could not overpower him,” she recalled.
“ . . . I wonder whether he already knew us or had been watching us for some time.”
Watching her younger sister write examinations in agony has been heartbreaking for her.
“I wish that pain had been inflicted on me instead, especially at a time when she is writing such important examinations,” she said.
The family now lives in terror that the suspect, who remains at large, might return.
Relatives have since moved in to provide protection.
Their aunt, Charity Bingepinge, who travelled from Harare, indicated that female tenants who live in a cottage at the property reported someone knocking on their door around midnight that same night.
The attack has heightened fears across Sakubva, with resident Gladys Muneta stating, “We do not know what is being done to bring him to book. The police should protect these girls and other women from further attacks.”
Acting Manicaland provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka referred questions to police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi, who was not readily available for comment. — Manicaland Bureau
Source: Mutare teen learner fights off rapist, writes exams with bandaged hands – herald
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