Source: CITE
Sharon Nyadzonga* has traumatic tales to tell about her stint living on the streets of Gweru where she was sexually abused repeatedly and eventually impregnated by an unknwon man, who posed as a policeman.
Nyadzonga (19), who joined the growing army of children living on the streets of the Midlands capital after her step mother chased her away from their Ascot home, was violated at a spot where she felt the safest.
After enduring unending sexual abuse by boys she was living with in Gweru’s central business district, she moved to a spot close to a near-permanent police roadblock on the outskirts of the city centre.
One night, a man she had seen on several occasions close to the police check point who always posed as a policeman, invaded her sanctuary and raped her once without protection.
“After forcefully removing my clothes, he proceeded to rape me without using protection,” said a teary Nyadzonga, who is now nursing a three month-old baby conceived from the horrific incident.
“He warned that if I dared to scream or tell anyone about it he would arrest me.”.
Following the attack, the terrified young woman moved back to the CBD where life changed rapidly for her as she discovered after three months that she was pregnant.
Nyadzonga said one day she collapsed while in the CBD and on regaining consciousness she was on a hospital bed.
Her stay in hospital, however, was a blessing in disguise as nurses linked her with a good Samaritan, Stella Khumalo, the founding executive director of the Queen of Peace Rehabilitation and Crisis Centre in Gweru.
“My life started changing and I started opening up to her about my challenges living on the streets,” Nyadzonga said. “She eventually told me that I was pregnant and I told her that I was raped by a police officer.
“She helped me to report the case to the police, but nothing much has happened to bring the culprit to book.”.
Khumalo explained that the case did not go far because the profile of the alleged rapist did not match any of the police officers that were usually stationed at the roadblock.
An investigation by CITE that involved interviews with children living on the streets, care workers, police and organisations looking after vulnerable children in Gweru showed that homeless girls were at the mercy of sex predators that are always on the prowl.
Most of the abusers, it was revealed, were fellow children living on the streets and ordinary men who prey on the vulnerable girls.
Sex predators prowl on street children.
