adminTendai Gukutikwa
FOR caressing his minor girlfriend by placing his hands into the teenager’s privates, a man from Mutare’s Gimboki South high-density suburb will spend the next four months in jail. Douglas Kurotwi pleaded guilty to indecent assault as defined in Section 67 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23 when he appeared before Ms Annia Ndiraya.
Ms Catherine Mwenga prosecuted. Kurotwi was sentenced to four months imprisonment which were wholly suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence in the next five years. Asked why he fondled the 13 year-old’s breasts and caressed her private parts, Kurotwi told the court that it was a love gesture.
“Your Worship, of course I knew that she was under 16 years-old but I did not know that it was illegal for me to be in an affair with her. I only wanted to express my love to her because I was deeply in love with her,” he begged the court for leniency.
Kurotwi, a builder, was caught by the minor’s mother red-handed caressing the teenager in one of the houses he was building in the area. Mrs Mwenga told the court that the offence was committed on November 9.
“On that date the minor’s mother saw her daughter leaving the house which the accused was building. She confronted her daughter who revealed that Kurotwi had been caressing her privates,” she said.
Online Reporter