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Senior Court Reporter
A 28-year-old man has been fined $40 000 (or six months in jail) by the Harare Magistrates Court after admitting to having sexual relations with his cousin.
Harare regional magistrate Mrs Gloria Takundwa sentenced Josphat Muswati to 14 months in jail, but suspended the entire term on condition that he does not commit a similar offence in the near future.
His cousin, Jaqueline Kamwendo (22), was also equally fined when they were jointly charged with incest. Under Zimbabwean law, incest goes beyond siblings, ancestors and descendants, uncles and aunts and nephews and nieces, and includes first and second cousins.
However, those who come from a culture where first and second cousins can marry are not bound by the cousin ban, and this would include some groups, mainly of foreign origin.
The court heard that in July 2020, Kamwendo visited Muswati at his house in Southerton, Harare, where he proposed love, and she agreed. They then started staying together as husband and wife knowing that they were related as cousins. In April this year, the two had a misunderstanding and Kamwendo went to make a false rape allegation against Muswati.
Upon investigation, it was then revealed that the two were having sexual relations within a prohibited degree of relationship.
They were then arrested and taken to court charged with incest.
Online Reporter