STORY TITLE: Trap
AUTHOR: Kelvin Jasi
CHAPTER 11
Charmaine paused and breathed in heavily with her eyes fixed on Dr Kuma. “I want the Council and the entire university community to know that this whole thing is a trap. We do not have any business with his phone. And I want you all to know that this whole drama is because of his lustful desires. Dr Kuma thinks that he can have any lady he wants. He has been sexually harassing me ever since I came to this school. He thought Jeffrey here is my boyfriend, so he got pissed off with him. He thinks that Jeffrey has been enjoying what he feels should be his. This whole thing is about me. Dr Kuma wants to have me on his bed.”
Charmaine sat and the Vice Chancellor signaled to narrate my version. I stood up and narrated what happened on the said day.
After hearing my own version, a Professor who was probably in his middle seventies spoke.
“I remain Professor Adam Gara, a Professor of Meta Physics. I remain the longest-serving Professor alive in the country. I became a Professor at the age of 29. I have been a Professor for 46 years now and I am not going home any time soon. I have neither seen nor heard of a lecturer accusing his student of stealing his personal possessions as the case presided over by the Council. This is ridiculously outrageous. I do not support evil. Dr Kuma, I hope you are sure of this!”
Dr Kuma nodded.
“And you Charmaine Masara”, Professor Gara continued, “Our people say that when an insect gathers firewood, it is on its head it must carry. I hope you know the consequences of what you have just said, Miss Charmaine.”
“I am fully ready to take responsibility of my words”, Charmaine responded.
“Very well then. I think that will be all for now,” Professor Gara added.
Another Professor was given the floor. He began to speak. “My name is Professor Teddy Chimombe, a Professor of Mathematics from Harvard University. Miss Charmaine, you have accused Dr Kuma, your lecturer, of sexually harassing you for months, and because you refused to consent to his immoral desires, he trapped you and your friend, his perceived rival, up. Can you prove beyond every iota of doubt that you are telling the truth?”
“Yes Professor, I can do that”, Charmaine answered.
The Professor nodded and gestured with his hand for Charmaine to continue.
“Dr Kuma here is a chronic sex offender. He has been behaving indecently toward me for quite a long time now.”
“And what do you mean by ‘behaving indecently toward you’?” asked the Vice-Chancellor.
“On many occasions, he has touched my breast without my consent. He has touched my butt without my consent. I believe none of you here will be happy if your female child you entrusted in the hands of a lecturer, keeps reporting to you that the lecturer has been attempting to take undue advantage of her.”
“Hello! Miss Charmaine Masara, you have not proven to us that Dr Kuma did all that you have alleged him to have done. We need proof. Concrete proofs. Not just a mere talking. Dr Kuma has accused you of stealing his phone, and he has proven it. He said he has two witnesses to prove his point. Show us something to prove that Dr Kuma has been touching you without your consent or at least a witness”, said Professor Gara.
“With due respect, Professor Gara, are you suggesting that this young lady, Miss Charmaine, is making this up?” asked a female lecturer.
“I am not suggesting that, madam. All I want are proofs, or at least one. Let her show it. Or did she report those advances to anybody here in the university?” Said, Professor Gara.
“I have no proof, Sir. Dr Kuma has been careful to carry out his heinous act when he knows that no one will see him. Moreover, I do not always have the time to record the action as it is always spontaneous.”
“Then, as far as I am concerned, it never happened. As a scientist, I believe what I can see, touch or feel. I am done”, Professor Gara concluded.
“Do you have any more to say, Miss Charmaine Masara?” asked the Vice-Chancellor.
Charmaine stood up again and was about to continue.
“You can sit down. Sit down, please. Go on”, said the Vice Chancellor.
With that Charmaine sat down and Tatenda Gomba whispered to her.
“I may not have the concrete proofs of his sexual harassment on me, but I have that of others, which I believe can help me prove my points if the Council will allow me to present them”, Charmaine responded.
“You have the floor”, said the Vice-Chancellor.
“Thank you, Professor. Thank you all. Dr Kuma mentioned theft, examination malpractice and crime as some of the vices that attract outright expulsion from these traps he uses to get female students on his bed”, she said and pulled out an envelope from his handbag.
Everyone watched her with awe as she opened a brown envelope and brought out a photograph.
She continued, “this picture shows two female students who wrote their examination in a hotel room at the instance of Dr Kuma. The third person in this picture is Dr Kuma sitting on the bed. After the examination, they had sex. Yes, three of them. Unfortunately, a few years after graduation, one of them died. But one of them is still alive today and is willing to testify.” Charmaine paused.
She handed over the photo to a young man who passed it over to the Vice-Chancellor.
“This other picture is that of the young man who was murdered by a witch doctor paid by Dr. Kuma because the young man threatened to expose what happened in that hotel that evening between those two ladies and Dr Kuma. In other ways to cover up his unholy act, Dr Kuma paid the witch doctor to kill this boy through their hitmen. The news had it then that this innocent young man was a member of a cult and his death was attributed to a cult clash. This incident happened five years before you became the Vice-Chancellor of this institution.”
“This is an outright fallacy”, interjected Dr Kuma.
“Be calm Dr Kuma. I plead you let the Council decide that”, said the Vice-Chancellor. He then turned to Charmaine and added, “Miss Charmaine, please go ahead”.
“Thank you Sir. One of the hitmen that were hired to kill this young man was forced into money rituals by this same Dr Kuma. He wanted boys who would work for him when he wanted to contest election as a Mayor in his town, so he tricked students into joining blood cults with the assurance that they would pass all their courses. That was how he got the boy initiated into cultism. With me here is a hard drive containing a video recording of the boy’s confession.”
She handed over the picture and the hard drive to the young man. Dr Kuma started biting his lips.
“There is a popular story here in this school”, continued Charmaine, “about a young lady who was practically raped by Dr Kuma right inside his office at gunpoint. The girl later raised an alarm. She was to appear before the Council like this, but she died from a ghastly motor accident on her way to the Council. Well, it might interest you to know that there was no accident. It was a complete murder executed by Dr Kuma. That case was closed just like that. However, this is a recording of Dr Kuma’s confession of successfully closing the case.” She handed over the SD card containing the said recording.
As to how she got all those information, I did not know. But I remember when that envelope was given to her. I thought there were documents of landed properties inside the envelope.
“Dr Kuma accused me of stealing his android phone. There is no such phone I will ever desire that my parents cannot buy for me. I have two latest iPhones. I do not use android phones. He termed me a thief when in reality, he is the thief. Now how will you defend this? This is the transcript of the school Dr. Kuma registered for his General Secondary Certificate of Education (GSCE) in 1970 in Harare. He is number 37 in this list. However, he did not write the examination, because his mother was seriously sick. But how come he now possesses an excellent graded GSCE result alleged to have been written the same year, but from another school in the then Mashonaland Central Province, which is the present Harare Metropolitan? Who is the thief?” Charmaine finished with a question.
“This is a political blackmailing”, protested Dr Kuma. “I know where this is coming from. This is coming from Madam P. This is her handwork. She is framing me up because I refused to do her bidding at the just concluded Senatorial election. This is a trap.”
The house went into a rowdy session.
After restoring calmness in the house, the Vice-Chancellor spoke.
END OF CHAPTER 11. Read the next episode, Chapter 12 here, now!
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