A MEDICAL doctor has told the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court that the woman who reported being raped by pastor John Nundwe, also known as Bishop John General of Miracle Impact International, appeared distressed and traumatised when she sought medical attention.
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However, the doctor’s testimony also highlighted inconsistencies and a lack of acute physical injuries.
University Teaching Hospital (UTH) Head of the Sexual Gender-Based Violence Unit Rokaya Ginwalla, testified that the complainant, identified as EN, visited the unit on November 23, 2023, the day after the alleged incident.
Dr Ginwalla observed EN’s demeanor as distressed and traumatised.
Despite the complainant’s apparent distress, Dr Ginwalla told Resident Magistrate Amy Masoja Chilangwa that a medical examination revealed no acute genital injuries, and the victim’s hymen was found to be normal.
Furthermore, a swab for spermatozoa yielded no sperm in the victim’s vagina.
Dr Ginwalla offered several explanations for the absence of sperm, including the possibility that the victim was menstruating, which could wash away sperm.
She also suggested that there might have been no ejaculation during the alleged act.
The doctor also explained that it is difficult to find active injuries on a sexually active woman.
“The victim told me she had sex with her husband four days prior to the incident.”
Ginwalla said the other reason why there was no sperms on the victims genitals is that she bathed before she visited the hospital.
“The other possibility is that the time the husband came and allegedly found them in the act, there could be no ejaculation,” added the witness.
The court heard Dr Ginwalla recount the victim’s statement from November 23, 2023.
The survivor told Dr Ginwalla that an unknown person who is a pastor came to pray for her.
She stated that the pastor, accompanied by another individual who remained in the sitting room, asked to see the rooms in the house.
According to Dr. Ginwalla’s testimony, the victim alleged that upon reaching a spare bedroom, the pastor insisted that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with her.
She claimed he then forcefully had sex with her without using a condom and that her husband arrived home during the alleged assault.
The victim further told the doctor that the pastor then screamed for the person in the sitting room to bring a gun before fleeing without clothes, leaving behind his clothes and car.
The victim then bathed and changed her clothes.
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Elijah Siatwambo questioned Dr Ginwalla on her assessment of distress, to which she responded it was “a mere observation.”
Siatwambo then pointed out an inconsistency between Dr Ginwalla’s testimony and the victim’s prior court statement.
While Dr Ginwalla testified that the victim told her they went into the bedroom together, Siatwambo stated that the victim had told the court she found the accused naked in the spare bedroom.
Dr Ginwalla confirmed the inconsistency.
Another defense lawyer, Yokonia Daka, asked Dr Ginwalla if she agreed that the complaint and the medical report’s findings did not corroborate, to which she responded in the affirmative.
The trial is set to continue today.
By Lucy Phiri
Kalemba July 30, 2025
