The teenager, Peter Mutonhora, of Dumba Village was fined a cow by the chief’s court. He will, however, perform three months of unpaid work at Mount Melleray Mission Hospital after pleading with the chief for a lesser sentence.
A 19-year-old Nyanga man recently appeared before Acting Chief Saunyama’s court for dating a married woman, Ruth Manhimanzi, who is aged 21.
Mutonhora told the traditional court that Manhimanzi had tricked him into believing that she was an unmarried virgin. He said: I am still young and do not have any cattle. I did not know that she is married. In fact, l thought she was a v!rgin.
Mutonhora further claimed that he would chat with Mandimanzi from 7 pm to around midnight as he believed that she was single. He said:
She was always available when I wanted to talk to her over the phone. We would talk late at night. It is rare to find a married woman entertaining other men during those hours.
Because of that, I believed that she was unattached and continued my relationship with her. Where was this alleged husband when I was talking to her at midnight?
Asked whether he had not noticed that Ruth was heavily pregnant, Mutonhora said he wasn’t aware that she was pregnant. He said:
She looks like a ‘Sweet 16’ to me up to this day. I was shocked when her husband told me that she is expecting their second child. I wanted to marry her.
However, Manhimanzi told the court that she revealed her marital status to the teenager but he would have none of it. She said: He wouldn’t let me go and insisted that we would cross the bridge when we get caught.
We have now been caught, so this is the bridge we are crossing. Manhimanzi’s husband only identified as Raphael (28), said initially he had a dream that revealed his wife’s shenanigans. He told the court:
I told her about my dream and she dismissed it as hogwash. I told her that if indeed it was true, I would catch her in no time. He said he realised that his wife was always chatting with someone on her phone late into the night. Said, Raphael:
I took her phone and discovered her affair with Mutonhora. I started texting Mutonhora using her phone and he would respond. I saw a message where they were planning to meet in the bushes. I followed them and caught them in each other’s arms.
Raphael said that during Mutonhora and his wife’s affair, the two had not indulged in sexual intercourse, hence his decision to forgive his wife.
