By A Correspondent- Lawyers representing the founder of Goodness and Mercy Ministries, Tapiwa Freddy, better known as Prophet T Freddy, on Friday played audio of a recorded phone call between him and his accuser, which they said proved the two were lovers.

Freddy denies raping the 33-year-old woman employed as a radio DJ by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).

The complainant claims the attack happened at her Mt Pleasant Heights home on a date in November 2020.

Freddy, a married self-proclaimed prophet, insists he had consensual sex with his accuser, claiming that she only reported him for rape when he ended their affair.

His lawyer Everson Chatambudza played an audio recording in court in which the complainant said during a call:

Shaa (dear), I’m sorry. Ye ropa (about the bleeding) and scratches was just a story to spice up things.

Chatambudza told the court that the complainant had told Freddy that she bleeds and has scratched inside her thighs each time they are intimate.

The lawyer argued that if the audio does not prove that the alleged victim is a liar, it does at least prove that they were in a relationship and quite comfortable to discuss their sex life.

During cross-examination, Freddy’s lawyers accused the complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, of giving a statement to the police that was different from her testimony in court.

The woman admitted to leaving out a lot of information in the police statement but maintained that all she said was true. Said Chatambudza:

There is nothing in your police statement that you tried to stop him from getting into your bedroom. You said (in court) that Freddy entered your bedroom and lay on your bed.

Much later you say he stood up and locked the door and put the keys under the pillow.

This means the door was still unlocked when you came into the bedroom and found the accused lying in bed.

Why is it that you never took any action, why did you not leave?