adminNoleen Makhurane Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO woman shocked a court yesterday after she begged a magistrate to let off the hook a man who impregnated her 15-year-old daughter arguing that incarcerating him would prevent him from maintaining his expected baby.
The woman made a police report against Gugulethu Mpofu, 21, after he impregnated her Form Three daughter, but changed her mind on the decision to have him prosecuted.
She pleaded with magistrate Themba Chimiso to set Mpofu free so that he could be able to support his child. He is facing a charge of having sex with a minor.
She said the man should have known that the girl was a minor as she was still in school.
“I got him arrested because he impregnated my daughter. May the court please release him. I want him to help me with the preparation for, and upkeep of my grandchild,” she said.
The pregnant pupil, who testified in the matter yesterday, said she was in love with Mpofu.
She also said she had consensual sex with him twice at his place of residence.
“He is my boyfriend. He impregnated me and I love him. We slept together two times at his house,” she said.
Mpofu pleaded not guilty to having sex with a minor.
He claimed that he did not know that the pupil was a minor.
“We were in love and I was not aware of her age. I came to know her age after my arrest,” he said.
Magistrate Chimiso remanded Mpofu in custody to September 28 for continuation of trial.
Prosecuting, Tony Kamudyariwa said Mpofu fell in love with the pupil in September 2014.
He said Mpofu first had sex with the minor in April and for the second time in July at his place of residence.
On September 9 this year, her mother discovered that she was pregnant and she reported the matter to the police, leading to Mpofu’s arrest.
Online Reporter