Zinedine Karabo Gioia deserves justice.

On her 21st birthday, July 21st 2018, she was date raped by BRENDAN RUNDLE in Gaborone, Botswana. Nothing was done. Forensic evidence went missing, she was told that because she was drugged and had no clear story that it was unlikely he would be charged. It happened in his home, where her and her friends went for drinks after the club. He was her friend at the time, and so she trusted him. He offered her a shot of tequila and she remembers nothing after that. She blacked out immediately. She woke up in the middle of a dream because she felt someone pushing up against her, she couldn't see clearly but could make out his physic. His voice as he moaned. She woke up and blacked out again. Hours later her best friend woke her up (she had been drugged, too). She found Zinedine in one of the bedrooms covered in a blanket, underneath that blanket she was completely naked with no memory but that vague dream. Her friend immediately got her dressed, without waking him up they left the house and they went to the police. She was in shock and couldn't stop weeping. I didn't understand or believe what was happening. She was found in his cousin's room, which BRENDAN used in police mentions as justification that "she was a drunk horny mess trying to sleep with both him and his cousin."  

Zinedine: I'm scared to be telling this story, I was told that saying this out loud would hurt my chances of justice in court. But I cannot and will not be silent. He took my birthday milestone, my trust, my emotional well being. And the police will do nothing. Three weeks later I was contacted by a woman whom he drugged at a corporate function. AFTER I HAD LAID CHARGES

We, as a society, are becoming complacent with these crimes. Many men are complicit in rape cases and are comfortable with that while women, BLACK WOMEN especially, continue to suffer at the hands of powerful, narcissistic men that think they can get anything they want. NO MORE. 

This petition is not only to achieve justice for Zinedine but for the countless women BRENDAN RUNDLE has raped and silenced. They deserve to be listened to, believed and supported because they are the victims. 

I plea to the powers that be in the Botswana government to take this to trial, and send BRENDAN RUNDLE to prison. He is a rapist that deserves to be imprisoned for his crimes. It was recently announced that between December 23 and the 3rd of January 2019, 109 rape cases were reported. No arrests were mentioned, and this figure is only taken from reports so there were bound to be more. Rape is a problem in our community, a huge one that we can prevent from happening to women. Let this be one of the steps in abolishing rape. IMPRISON BRENDAN RUNDLE. Let him be an example to other rapists that they will not walk freely knowing they have hurt and destroyed a woman's life. 

Friends, we must act now before it's too late. Together, we can stop rape.