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Woman convicted for sex with teenager

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A 25–YEAR–OLD married woman who had sexual intercourse with a teenager was lucky to escape jail

A 25–YEAR–OLD married woman who had sexual intercourse with a teenager was lucky to escape jail after she was ordered by Harare magistrate Fadzai Mtombeni to do 840 hours of community service at Rujeko Poly-Clinic.

REPORT BY SENIOR REPORTER

Although the accused, who resides in Dzivarasekwa, was charged with aggravated indecent assault as defined in Section 66 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, the court ruled that the complainant had consented.

“The complainant indeed had sex with the accused, but on terms they had agreed on. If sex was by consent, it removes the aggravated indecent assault element of lack of consent. It leaves accused guilty of a less serious offence of contravening section 70 of the code which provides for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor,” she ruled.

The woman was then slapped with a four-year prison term, of which two years were suspended on the condition that she would not, within the same period, commit a sex–related offence.

The remaining two years were further suspended on the condition that she performed unpaid labour.

Allegations against the woman were that on July 17 this year at around 11 o’clock in the morning, the 15–year–old complainant went to her house intending to collect some cash from her husband.

Upon arrival, the complainant, who is a Form One pupil at a private college in Dzivarasekwa 2, was told that accused’s husband was not present.

While he was still at the house, a girl identified only as Abigail invited the complainant to come and sleep between her and the accused person. After the complainant said he was not interested in both women, the accused tried to convince him to have sexual intercourse with her, but he refused.

Accused then went into another room before calling the complainant to join him.

Inside the room, the accused dragged the teenager onto the floor and removed his trousers and pants before lying on top of him. She started caressing the complainant’s private parts before having intercourse with him.

The complainant went home and told a friend that he was now sexually active. The friend then went to make a police report, leading to the arrest of the accused person.