The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa Post Correspondent
A 31-YEAR-OLD married driver who turned his employer’s kombi into a bedroom and deflowered a juvenile has been jailed for five years.The victim (15) was doing Form Two at a local secondary school.
The convict, Liberty Mupamhanga, who was employed by Mlambo Tours as a driver was last week convicted on his own plea of guilty to contravening Section 70 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 which criminalises having sexual intercourse with a young person.
Mutare provincial magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe presided over the matter.
Mr Fletcher Karombe prosecuted.
Mr Karombe described the relationship as an extra-marital sexual relationship with a juvenile.
He said due to the age difference between the juvenile and Mupamhanga, coupled with the fact that he was married; the convict deserved a custodial sentence.
Mr Mahwe said there was need to send a strong warning to all men who are luring young girls that the law will eventually catch up with them.
“Cases of older married men pouncing on young girls who are still juveniles are on the rise and there is need to send out a warning to all of them out there that it is illegal to sleep with these minors.
‘‘You deserve to be imprisoned without the option of a fine because you prey on these innocent girls and deceive them, promising them marriage yet you are already a married man,” said Mr Mahwe.
Mr Mahwe went on to suspend one year on condition of good behaviour.
The court heard that Mupamhanga and the juvenile were lovers.
They started dating in July 2018.
On August 3, Mupamhanga met the juvenile at Gomorembira in Chikanga on her way from school.
As he drove the kombi to Chikomo, he picked the victim together with her friend, who was in love with the kombi conductor. Mupamhanga parked the kombi in Zimta. The juvenile was seated behind the driver’s seat while her friend and the conductor were at the back seat. Mupamhanga dropped the driver’s seat to reach out to the minor seated behind him. The victim lay on his laps, and he started fondling her breasts.
He then asked for sex and they became intimate once in the kombi.
After the incident, Mupamhanga drove to town via Magamba.
He dropped the juvenile at Mutare Provincial Hospital bus stop.
She did not reveal the incident to anyone, but on October 11, her parents were invited to the school where they were told that their child had a boyfriend who was sexually abusing her.
She then confessed, and a police report was made. The girl was medically examined and the results were in the affirmative.
