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Bid to fix defaulter backfires

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A SELF–CONFESSED prostitute’s bid to fix a client who had defaulted payment by raising false rape charges against him turned nasty.

A SELF–CONFESSED prostitute’s bid to fix a client who had defaulted payment by raising false rape charges against him turned nasty when she was on Tuesday jailed for three months for making a false police report.

PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI

Betty Kondo (27), who is married, was initially slapped with a six–month prison sentence, but Harare magistrate Victoria Mashamba set aside three months for five years on condition that the accused person would not commit a similar offence.

Prosecutor Constance Ngombengombe told the court in aggravation that only a custodial sentence would suffice to meet the justice of the case to compensate for the rape sentence that the client, Vengai Shumba, would have faced upon conviction.

She said on March 30, 2014 at around 9 o’clock in the morning, Kondo, who resides at Plot No 24 in Glen Forest, went to Borrowdale Police Station where she made a report that Shumba — who had contracted her for a night–long affair — had raped her.

She lied to the police that she had met the complainant along Hwalshed Road while hunting for a part–time job.

Kondo also told the police that Shumba sweet-talked her to accompany him to a bushy area where he said he knew of someone in need of an employee before he allegedly raped her.

On April 1, the court heard, Kondo, however, returned to the police station and told the police that she had had consensual sex with Shumba on the understanding that he was going to pay $5 for the services.

Shumba only paid $2, courting Kondo’s wrath. She hatched a plan to fix him so that he would not cheat other women in future.

The admission, however, led to her arrest.