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Thandeka Moyo Court Correspondent
A TELONE technician gave his pregnant girlfriend a $1 once-off payment for food, communication and preparation for the baby, a court heard yesterday.Close-fisted Nyasha Chimuka of Bulawayo’s Nketa 9 suburb — who earns about $500 per month — was dragged to the Maintenance Court by Abigail Msimanga of Emganwini on charges of failing to provide for their newborn baby.
Magistrate Victor Mpofu also heard that Chimuka, in a bid to block his girlfriend from claiming maintenance, went on to apply for a protection order against her claiming she was a violent person who called him regularly after the baby was born.
“Coming to this court was my last option to have this man take responsibility of our baby now aged 27 days,” said Msimanga, who struggled to stand on her feet as she is nursing wounds after giving birth through caesarean operation.
“I dated this guy for three months and conceived by mistake although we decided to keep the baby. Three months into the pregnancy, Nyasha stopped calling and gave me $1 to cater for all the expenses.”
Msimanga said Chimuka deliberately changed his cellphone numbers in a bid to avoid her until she gave up.
“I decided to let go. He recently filed a protection order because he doesn’t want to pay for the welfare of the baby,” she said.
In his response, Chimuka said he could not afford to pay maintenance as he was married to another woman and that he owed substantial amounts in unpaid loans to two companies that deducted $360 from his monthly salary.
“I’m married and have two children hence I have no money to pay for maintenance that she’s claiming. The reason why we kept the baby in the first place was because she claimed she loved babies and that she wanted one with me,” said Chimuka.
Magistrate Mpofu asked Chimuka if any of his loans benefited his children, to which he said he used the money to buy gold but failed to make any profits from the business transaction.
“I took the money to invest in a business that flopped,” he told court. “I still have to pay back the cash and will have deductions until October 2014 and take care of my family at the same time.”
In her response Msimanga said Chimuka did not inform him that he was married when they fell in love.
“This man lied to me saying he was single and I only knew of his marriage a few days ago when I delivered the summons,” she said, adding: “I’m not interested in him anyway. I just need him to help me take care of his child.”
Msimanga also accused Chimuka of refusing to get the child a birth certificate.
“He never bothered to look at his baby. He used me I admit. Now I just need him to be a responsible father,” she charged.
After a series of arguments, Chimuka offered to pay $25 and promised to top up whenever he got more money. But magistrate Mpofu ordered him to pay $50 with effect from the end of this month.
Online Reporter