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Melody Baya, Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO man was arrested for kidnapping her girlfriend of five days and threatening to kill her with a knife.

Prince Gwekwerere, 28, of Cowdray Park suburb appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Abednico Ndebele facing a charge of kidnapping Sibongile Ndlovu.

He pleaded guilty to the charge and was remanded in custody to November 27 for commencement of trial at the Bulawayo Regional Court.

Gwekwerere, who lied to the police that he was employed as a soldier by the Zimbabwe National Army, said he had a misunderstanding with Ndlovu which led to him abducting her.

“Sibongile and I were dating before I was arrested. The relationship ended immediately after I got arrested. We got into a fight which compelled me to behave the way I did,” said Gwekwerere.

“I had to lie to the police about being employed as a soldier because of the harsh treatment I received from them.”

Ndlovu said she had only dated Gwekwerere for five days, admitting he had lied to her as well about being employed as soldier.

“We only dated for five days. He proposed love on November 11 and on the 12th we started dating. He told me he was a soldier and wanted me to buy him a plasma television in South Africa as he was going to get his bonus soon. I had initially agreed,” said Ndlovu.

“He kidnapped me and dragged me to a nearby bush where he held me hostage until I agreed to resolve things with him,” she added.

Gwekwerere is also facing charges of unlawful entry and theft which he pleaded guilty to. He allegedly stole goods worth $200 from Ndlovu which consist of clothing items.

Prosecuting, Stewart Madzore told the court that on November 17, 2015, at around 9PM Gwekwerere approached Ndlovu, who was standing outside her home in Cowdray Park suburb.

“He grabbed the complainant by the hand and dragged her about a kilometre into a nearby bush. He then ordered the complainant to sit down and produced a knife which he used to give threats that he was going to kill her,” said Madzsore.

After about an hour-and-a-half, he said, Ndlovu managed to break free and run to her house from where she called the police.