Tuesday, 12 January 2016

Form Two pupil (14) granted right to abort

A Gweru magistrate has granted an application for the termination of a pregnancy by the parents of a Form Two pupil who was impregnated by her 30-year-old boyfriend. 

The 14-year-old girl had insisted on keeping the pregnancy but her parents convinced Provincial Magistrate Phathekile Msipa that she was not in a position to be a mother. 


The matter was heard in camera, but it has since been established that the girl told the police and nurses at Gweru General Hospital that she wanted to keep her baby. Her mother, however, applied to the court for her to abort and Magistrate Msipa granted the order yesterday. 

The girl is six weeks pregnant. The girl's mother, in her affidavit, said the pregnancy was as a result of sexual abuse. 

"On December 25, I learnt that my daughter was pregnant as a result of sexual abuse. I therefore request that she be allowed to terminate the pregnancy for the following reasons: 1, she is 14-years-old and cannot be a mother, 2, she wants to pursue her education without parental destruction, 3, she is not prepared to look after the baby," said the girls mother.

Meanwhile, the soldier who impregnated the girl has been jailed for 30 months. He appeared before Gweru Magistrate Gweru magistrate Musaiwona Shotgame facing one count of having sexual intercourse with a minor. 

The soldier will, however, serve 24 months in prison after the magistrate suspended six months of his sentence on condition of good behaviour. The court heard how the accused had the girl intoxicated with liquor before having sexual intercourse with her. 

The soldier even asked the girl to suck his manhood after promising her $100. The girl told the court how she was surprised to see herself bleeding after her first sexual encounter with the soldier. She said the soldier would bring her into town from Thornhill Airbase to buy chicken and chips. 

Thereafter they would go to his single quarter's room at the airbase for sexual intercourse. 

"We went to his room and went out and bought three Castle pints and I drank two of them. Later he slept with me and I bled. I asked him why I was bleeding and he said that's what women do when they have sex for the first time," said the girl.

Prosecuting, Bonwell Balamanje, told the court that in November last year, the soldier came across the girl around Thornhill Airbase in Gweru. 

The court heard how the man proposed love to her and she accepted. 

"Thereafter on different occasions but still around the month of November, the accused would invite the victim to his house and drug her before having sexual intercourse with her several times," said Balamanje. 

He said the matter came to light after the girl's mother discovered that her daughter was pregnant. She reported the matter to the police leading to the soldier's arrest.- THE CHRONICLE.

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