Woman (56) raped twice inside tent home
Suspect spent four hours inside victim's blankets
By Staff Reporter
A 56-year-old Harare woman was raped twice on the same night on Saturday by a man who had broken into her tent, which she used as a home, to subject to the heinous crime.
Police spokesperson for Harare province Inspector Luckmore Chakanza said in a statement that the suspect Petros Matinenge threatened to kill the victim if she screamed for help.
The suspect got into the woman’s blankets and raped her twice without any protection.
Chakanza said he incident took place at Lot 5 Spitzkop, Zvimba district.
“On 6 September 2025 around 8pm, the victim retired to bed in her tent house structure without a door.
“Around 11pm, she heard footsteps and screamed after seeing the suspect inside her tent.
“The suspect threatened to kill the victim if she made any noise to which she complied out of fear.
“The suspect got into the blankets and the suspect raped the victim, who was stark naked, once without protection,” said Inspector Chakanza.
After the act, the suspect declared that he was now her boyfriend.
“The victim in turn lied to him that her husband was based in South Africa.
“The suspect managed to reveal his name as Petros Matinenga, employed as a gold detector by a Chinese Company in Chinhoyi,” said Chakanza.
The suspect then slept in the tent with the victim. At around 1:30am, he raped her again without protection.
Later on, the victim lied that she had developed a headache and the suspect left at around 2pm on the pretext that he was going to buy her pain killers.
He never returned.
The victim later went to Dzivarasekwa police station where she filed a rape report.
Police attended the crime scene. No arrests were made.
“What we noted is that the victim resides in an isolated tent thereby rendering her vulnerable to such abuses,” said Chakanza.
The victim was escorted to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospital for medical examination.
Investigations are in progress and Dzivaresekwa police are looking for the suspect with a view to establishing the veracity of the name supplied to the victim.
