Online Reporter
Lovemore Kadzura
Weekender Reporter
TWO members of the Gwasira family were dragged into a sensational paternity dispute last year after a woman, unsure who fathered her unborn child, attempted to elope to both of them.
Shelter Masango of Ridgemont, Rusape, hauled Jacob Gwasira before Chief Makoni’s community court, accusing him of denying responsibility for her pregnancy.
Jacob flatly rejected the claim, insisting he only had a single encounter with Masango, before discovering she was romantically involved with a rival taxi driver.
Jacob further alleged that Masango later pursued Leeroy Gwasira — culturally regarded as his son — and even attempted to elope to him in Harare, but failed to track him down.
Chief Makoni adjourned the matter pending DNA tests after the child’s birth.
Masango told the court she met Jacob while working at an insurance company and began dating him.
She claimed he lured her to his Mabvazuwa home under the pretext of collecting policy money, but instead coerced her into intimacy.
“We only slept once. I was furious at what he did, and that is when I started seeing Leeroy. I did not know they were related — I thought they were just workmates. I am sure Jacob is the father because the intimacy was not planned; he forced me,” Masango testified.
Jacob countered that after their single encounter, he ended the relationship upon discovering “lurid messages” from a taxi driver on her phone.
He said Masango then turned to Leeroy, who later sold a cellphone Jacob had bought him to pay for pregnancy tests.
When Leeroy left for Harare, Masango followed, but failed to find him. Jacob claimed she then tried to elope to him, but he refused.
“They first accused me of rape, hoping I would accept her to avoid arrest. I told them to go to the police. They refused, saying they did not want the baby to blame them for sending its father to jail,” Jacob told the court.
Shelter’s mother, Theresa Nyamusa, said she only learnt that her daughter was pregnant from her Harare-based sister, whom Shelter had visited.
She said she was shocked that her daughter had slept with the two relatives.
“I only learnt that Shelter was pregnant after seven months, when she had visited my younger sister in Harare, and her maid noticed that Shelter was exhibiting pregnant signs. My sister delayed telling me as they were busy trying to find out the real father of the pregnancy. Shelter returned to Rusape and took us to Jacob, claiming that he was the father of her unborn child. But there is also another man who is related to Jacob, whom she is mentioning.
“Shelter told me that she first slept with Jacob and she told his other relative (Leeroy) that she was carrying Jacob’s child. She said she then started sleeping with Jacob’s relative.
“I do not know if she is telling the truth. All along, I was not staying with Shelter as she was staying with her father in Norton, since we separated. She had visited me and fortunately, she got a job here. Now I have all the blame from her father for what has happened. The burden to look after the child is now solely mine,” said Nyamusa.
Leeroy’s father, Tawanda Gwasira, said the case was energy-sapping, as Jacob and Leeroy were culturally not expected to exchange women, as they are father and son.
“Jacob and Leeroy are father and son. Jacob told me that he is the one who started dating the girl and Leeroy later took over. It is despicable for close relatives to sleep with one girl,” said Gwasira.
The DNA results, announced by Chief Makoni, revealed that Jacob was not the biological father of the child, and he urged Shelter to look for other men she had slept with for another round of tests to find the father of the child.
“Now that the DNA results have exonerated Jacob, Shelter and her relatives have to summon Leeroy and the mushika-shika driver to this court for tests to be conducted. Shelter must be truthful and name all the men she slept with in the period in question so that there is closure to this case. When the case was first heard Shelter was denying ever sleeping with Leeroy, but now is she is admitting,” said Chief Makoni.
