Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A 22-YEAR-OLD man from Binga who was arrested for cohabiting and having sex with a 13-year-old girl has appeared in court.
The unsanctioned marriage between the man and the Grade six drop-out girl, was cut short by officials from the Social Welfare department and Child Protection Unit who reported the matter to the police.
The girl’s parents had ignored the issue when she eloped and started cohabiting with the man sometime in August.
The paedophile was lucky to escape a jail term after the girl pleaded with the court not to incarcerate him saying she consented to sex because she wanted to be married to the man.
“He didn’t force me into sex but I consented. I eloped to his place of residence because he is my husband and I want to be married to him,” said the girl in court.
This prompted the court to alter the charges from rape to having sexual intercourse with a young person.
Hwange regional magistrate Mr Collet Ncube then sentenced the man to four years in jail but suspended two years on condition that he does not within three years engage in sex with a minor or get close to the complainant. The remaining two years were suspended on condition that he completes 105 hours of community service at Lwazi Primary School in Binga.
Prosecuting Mr Tomupei Mbiza said the accused person proposed love to the girl sometime in August and the two lovebirds immediately cohabited.
“The two fell in love between 1 August and 31 August. During that period the girl eloped and went to cohabit with Mudenda for two weeks and her parents did not look for her,” said the prosecutor.
Mr Mbiza said the Social Welfare officers went to the man’s place of residence and took away the girl after being tipped off by Child Protection Unit officials.
This was because the girl is legally below the age of consent, which is 16 years.
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