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Sikhumbuzo Moyo and Danisa Masuku, Sunday News Reporters
A 36-year-old Bulawayo man, Godwell Mumba, appeared in court yesterday for allegedly having sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old girl, who is a suspect in the kidnapping of a two-year-old girl from Meikles Mall in the city last week.
The two-year-old was eventually found unharmed.
Mumba, believed to be a popular kombi driver in the city, appeared before Bulawayo Provincial Magistrate Mr Themba Chimiso, charged with having sexual intercourse with a minor as defined in Section 70 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23).
He was not asked to plead and was remanded in custody to 23 February.
Prosecutor Mr Joseph Rugara told the court that from January this year until last week, Mumba had sexual encounters with the 14-year-old, who cannot be named for ethical reasons.
“From January this year, the accused had consensual sex with the girl on several occasions until last week,” he told the court.
Detectives from the Homicide Section swooped on him after his alleged victim blew his cover.
The 14-year-old girl was arrested in connection with the alleged abduction of the toddler at Meikles Mall and implicated Mumba in a separate alleged sexual offence, police have confirmed.
The teenager was arrested after she was found in possession of the toddler along Herbert Chitepo Street following a tip-off by an alert member of the public.
The whistle-blower said the suspect knocked on his office door, upon which he noticed that she had the little girl.
He said the teenage suspect started to narrate her story, telling him that she wanted to briefly leave the toddler in his office, where she would be picked up by her father, who was just across the street.
He became suspicious after noticing inconsistencies in the teenager’s explanation about the child’s identity, which led him to quickly re-examine the footage that had been circulating on the day the child was kidnapped.
After the identification of the child, police were engaged, and it was during questioning by the police that she implicated Mumba as her boyfriend, with whom she had spent days, leading to the arrest of Mumba.
The toddler was referred to United Bulawayo Hospitals for examination by doctors, who concluded that there was nothing wrong with her.
Online Reporter