A 35-YEAR-OLD female tourist from Guatemala was fined $150 for entering Zimbabwe illegally.
OBEY MANAYITI STAFF REPORTER
Maria Gabriela Gutierrez Valenzuela was convicted on her own plea of guilty to contravening section 12 (1) of the Immigration Act when she appeared before Mutare magistrate Sekai Chiundura.
The court heard that Valenzuela entered the country without a visa and proper travelling documents through Forbes Border Post with the assistance of a Mozambican national. She again circumvented the immigration officers at the border post.
Asked why she entered Zimbabwe without proper documents, she said she was a tourist who had read so much about the wonders of Zimbabwe and she had come to see the country’s attraction areas.
Valenzuela said she was on her way to Victoria Falls, a place she had read a lot about in various tourist brochures.
The court ordered her to regularise her travelling documents next time she decides to embark on another trip to Zimbabwe or risk a 30-day jail term.
