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Emily Mbewe Court Reporter
A THIRD-year National University of Science and Technology (Nust) student and his friend were yesterday sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment for having sexual intercourse with a minor.Mbongeni Ncube, 24, the Nust student and Praise Dzingai, 20, had sexual intercourse with a Form three pupil at a house in Matsheumhlope suburb in Bulawayo.

The girl had been reported missing for a week but later returned home after days of partying. The two friends pleaded guilty to sleeping with a minor when they appeared before magistrate Tinashe Tashaya.

In passing sentence, Tashaya bemoaned the increase in the number of men who engage in sexual activities with under-age girls.

“Minor children should be protected and not taken advantage of, you two were supposed to protect the little girl no matter how wild she was. If she came to you looking for a place to stay, the least you could do was offer her shelter,” he said.

“You are therefore sentenced to 15 months imprisonment of which five months of the sentence are suspended on condition you don’t repeat an offence of a similar nature within a period of five years. The remaining 10 months you will serve as a custodial sentence.”

In mitigation, Ncube said the girl told her that she was turning 16 the same month and he did not know that sleeping with her was a crime.
He also said the girl consented to the act.

A weeping Dzingai told the court that he was sexually starved and the girl came to him naked so he failed to resist her advances.

“Your worship I was sexually starved and there she was naked, I couldn’t control myself and I ended up asking for sexual intercourse,” said Dzingai.

The girl’s grandmother sought the court’s counsel in dealing with the wayward teenager, saying she could no longer take care of her because she always runs away from home. The girl’s father lives in New Zealand and she was left in the custody of her grandparents.

Nothing was said in court about her mother.

The magistrate told the grandmother to seek advice at the juvenile court.

Prosecuting, Charles Danda told the court that on April 4, the girl ran away from home and went to stay with a friend in Paddornhurst.

The court heard that the girl later left her friend’s home and went to Matsheumhlope where Ncube and Dzingai reside.

At around 8PM on the same day, the girl slept in the sitting room while the two men slept in their bedroom.

“Ncube went to where the victim was sleeping and asked for a sexual moment with her and she agreed,” said Danda.

The two, added Danda, had consensual sexual intercourse once with protection.

Danda told the court that the next day at around 10PM, the two men were sleeping on their bed while the girl slept on a mattress in the same room.

The court heard that Dzingai proceeded to sleep on the mattress and had consensual intercourse once with the victim.

The matter came to light when the girl’s cousin met her in town with her friends and the matter was reported to the police.