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Sharon Chiware, Midlands Reporter
A 15-YEAR-OLD boy charged with sodomy yesterday left a court session in Gweru in stitches when he said he was shocked to stand before a magistrate for merely engaging in a “monkey play” with another minor.

The boy was pleading not guilty to three counts of sodomy before Gweru regional Magistrate, Mr Morgan Nemadire, when he told the court that it was mere child wrestling.

“There was no penetration. We were wrestling, turning each other up and down and I was only found on top of him when the alleged sodomy charges were laid against me,” he said.

Mr Nemadire remanded him in the custody of his grandfather to October 23 for trial.

“You have pleaded not guilty to the charge and since you are also a minor you will be in custody of your grandfather until the day you will appear in court for trial,” said Mr Nemadire.

Prosecuting, Mr Lloyd Mavhiza said on January 12, 2017, the accused visited the minor at his homestead in Madhuveko village in Lower Gweru.

The court heard that the accused asked the complainant, a minor aged 9, to escort him to a neighbour’s homestead to which he complied.

When they got to a bush, the two started wrestling.

It was during this play, the court heard, that the accused then sodomised the complainant twice and threatened him with unspecified action if he reported the mater.

The court heard that on January 13, 2017 in the afternoon, the accused met the complainant again at Mapani grazing lands in the same village and sodomised him. He was seen by a passerby who caught him and took him to the police.

@sharonchiware1