Online Reporter
Caroline Mutsawu in Hwange
A 22-YEAR-OLD Hwange man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for impregnating his 17-year-old “girlfriend”.
Lovemore Kayombo (22) was convicted of having sex with a minor by Hwange magistrate Mr Bentone Matope.
The prosecutor Mr Wisdom Shava said Kayombo began his relationship with the minor in 2021.
The court heard that sometime in June last year, the complainant visited her boyfriend at his place of residence on several occasions during which they engaged in sexual activities.
“When the complainant got pregnant, she informed her mother who then reported the matter to the police leading to Kayombo’s arrest,” said Mr Shava.
The complainant was referred to St Patrick’s Hospital for medical examination.
President Mnangagwa last year signed into law, the Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons) Bill, raising the age of consent from 16 to 18 and protecting young people from sexual predators and early marriages.
The new law came following a Constitutional Court ruling in May 2022 which found that the Criminal Law Code did not adequately protect children between the ages of 16 and 18 from sexual exploitation.
Under the new law, the age of sexual consent has been raised to 18, consistent with the Constitution, which sets the minimum marriage age at 18 and defines all young people as people below the age of 18.
In the original law, young people were defined as those below the age of 16, meaning those aged between 16 and 18 were not protected.
Following the ruling, President Mnangagwa invoked his powers in January last year under the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act to gazette Statutory Instrument 2 of 2024, in compliance with the Constitutional Court ruling that had declared unconstitutional, the section of the law that set the age of sexual consent at 16.
The temporary measures were only valid for six months as required by law, meaning a substantive law had to be promulgated.
This resulted in Parliament passing the new law that was gazetted in September last year.
