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Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
A 53-year-old man from Victoria Falls allegedly proposed love to his neighbour’s daughter, 9, and locked her in his bedroom for hours while she turned him down.

A court heard how the terrified girl cleverly escaped from potential abuse by Morgan Tswere of Chinotimba suburb by lying that her mother was in the house.

Tswere and the girl’s family are tenants in the house.

“He asked me to carry his glasses and grabbed me by the hand before dragging me to his bedroom where he sat on a bed and I remained standing,” the girl told the court.

“He told me he wanted other children to go away so we remain alone in the house. He told me I was his girlfriend and I told him I was scared.”

The girl said after a “long time” Tswere asked if her mother was around.

“I lied that she was in the house and that’s when he let me go,” she said.

Tswere, a self-employed glazier, is being charged with unlawful detention.

He denies the charge claiming the girl’s family framed him because they have not been in good books for the past 10 years they have shared the house.

Tswere was put on his defence after the court felt there was a basis for him to defend himself following the minor’s testimony.

He told the court he could not have dragged the girl into the bedroom because his wife had left it locked. His wife corroborated his assertion.

Magistrate Rangarirayi Gakanje remanded Tswere to Monday on $100 bail.

Prosecuting Takunda Ndovorwi told the court that the incident occurred on September 11 this year.

“On September 11 at about 2PM the complainant arrived home from school and went into the accused’s living room to play with the accused’s two children,” said Ndovorwi.

The court was told that while the three children, who are of almost the same age, were playing in the sitting room, Tswere came out of his bedroom and gave them money to buy snacks.

Ndovorwi said Tswere immediately called the complainant back and asked her to remain behind.

It is alleged that he asked her to help him carry some window panes to his workshop outside the house.

“He gave her one window pane which she took outside and then he locked the doors on her return into the house.

“He grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into his bedroom where he asked her to be his girlfriend,” said the prosecutor.

The court heard that Tswere only released the girl after she lied to him that her mother was in the house.

The girl reportedly ran out of the house and went to her mother’s workplace at Chinotimba Old Market where she narrated her ordeal and a report was made to the police.