adminHis 15-year-old daughter reportedly got pregnant while “fending” for her siblings.
However, the man (49) (name withheld to protect minor children) of Chinotimba Township in the resort town was lucky to escape the agony of jail life after Victoria Falls resident magistrate Mr Richard Ramaboea commuted three months of the sentence to 105 hours of community service.
The other three months were suspended on condition he does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
The man was convicted of contravening sections of the Child Protection Act.
His wife died in 2006 and the children were left in his custody.
The man, who was employed as a security officer by the Victoria Falls Municipality, left the children and moved in with a new wife in the same suburb.
The court heard that the children would toil to survive and would visit their father’s workplace as they tried to convince him that they needed financial assistance but he did not co-operate.
The “errant father” was only reported to police recently when one of his daughters aged 15 fell pregnant and forced into marriage, whereupon it was discovered she did not have a birth certificate.
For the State, Mr Takunda Ndovorwi told the court that the man was the biological father of the six children.
The court heard that he abandoned them soon after the death of their mother and went on to stay with another woman in the same suburb.
The court heard that the children would visit him at his workplace but he did not assist them.
Since the death of the mother, he reportedly stopped fending for the children and would not buy food or pay school fees while some of them still do not have birth certificates.
The children dropped out of school because they could not afford to pay fees.
Online Reporter