Chronicle Editor
Lisa Mangena, Court Reporter
A VENDOR from Bulawayo has been arrested after he allegedly had sex with a 14-year-old girl who he met in the city centre and later proposed to marry her.
Tatenda Chida (20) of Mzilikazi suburb appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Lesego Ngwenya facing a charge of having sexual intercourse with a minor.
He pleaded not guilty and was remanded out of custody on $150 bail to June 5 for continuation of trial.
Chida told the court that when he took the minor to his house she told him she was 18 years old.
“She told me she was 18 years old and I therefore had sex with her as I thought she was old enough and I was ready to marry her,” he said.
The prosecutor Mr Leonard Chile said sometime in April, the minor ran away from her home intending to go to Harare. “She spent the day at Renkini (Long Distance Bus Terminus) and was later approached by Chida who asked her if she was going somewhere.
“The minor told Chida that she wanted to go to Harare but had no money. He took her to his house and they had sex. For two weeks the minor was living with Chida as he had proposed to marry her,” he said.
On May 24, the minor was seen by her aunt loitering at Renkini and she took her home, the court heard.
When the minor’s father asked her where she had been, she said she had been married to Chida.
The matter was reported to the police leading to the arrest of Chida. – @LissahMangena
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