{"id":92825,"date":"2024-04-06T21:16:33","date_gmt":"2024-04-06T19:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/man-jailed-five-years-for-marrying-a-16-year-old-girl"},"modified":"2024-04-07T00:23:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T22:23:54","slug":"man-jailed-five-years-for-marrying-a-16-year-old-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/man-jailed-five-years-for-marrying-a-16-year-old-girl","title":{"rendered":"Man Jailed Five Years For “Marrying” A 16-Year-Old Girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>The Mutare Magistrates\u2019 Court recently convicted and sentenced to four years in prison a 35-year-old man from Penhalonga for engaging in sexual intercourse with a minor.<\/p>\n

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), in December 2023, the accused person initiated a romantic relationship with the complainant, a 16-year-old.<\/p>\n

The complainant accepted the accused\u2019s love proposal, and as a gesture of their relationship, the accused gifted the young person a cellphone on February 1, 2024, facilitating communication between them.<\/p>\n

The accused and the complainant arranged to meet in the privacy of the complainant\u2019s bedroom. There, they engaged in unprotected sexual activity. A few days later, they had a second sexual encounter. However, their actions did not go unnoticed.<\/p>\n

When the complainant\u2019s mother noticed that the accused was having sexual relations with her daughter, she reported the matter to the Police.<\/p>\n

On March 9, 2024, the complainant eloped to the accused person\u2019s residence, where they began living together as if married.<\/p>\n

The Mutare Magistrates\u2019 Court found the accused guilty of violating the law by having sexual relations with a minor.<\/p>\n

As a consequence, he received a four-year prison sentence. However, one year of the sentence was suspended for five years, subject to good behaviour.<\/p>\n

The NPA emphasized that it is a criminal offence to engage in sexual relations with a young person under the age of eighteen, regardless of their gender.<\/p>\n

Under Zimbabwe\u2019s new Marriage Act, all marriages are entered into between men and women above 18 years of age. Facilitating marriage of children under 18 years is now considered a criminal offence.<\/p>\n

The minimum age of marriage for both girls and boys is 18 years. It is a substantial crime to marry off a child, and anyone involved in such actions will be prosecuted.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The Mutare Magistrates\u2019 Court recently convicted and sentenced to four years in prison a 35-year-old man from Penhalonga for engaging in sexual intercourse with a minor. According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), in December 2023, the accused person initiated a romantic relationship with the complainant, a 16-year-old. The complainant accepted the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":92823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1493,2189,3307,9862,8370,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-92825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-penhalonga","12":"tag-sexual-intercourse-with-a-minor","13":"tag-statutory-rape","14":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nMan Jailed Five Years For "Marrying" A 16-Year-Old Girl - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Mutare Magistrates\u2019 Court recently convicted and sentenced to four years in prison a 35-year-old man from Penhalonga ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/man-jailed-five-years-for-marrying-a-16-year-old-girl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man Jailed Five Years For "Marrying" A 16-Year-Old Girl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Mutare Magistrates\u2019 Court recently convicted and sentenced to four years in prison a 35-year-old man from Penhalonga ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/man-jailed-five-years-for-marrying-a-16-year-old-girl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-06T19:16:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-06T22:23:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/04\/sm_1712425799.934285.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"481\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/man-jailed-five-years-for-marrying-a-16-year-old-girl\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/man-jailed-five-years-for-marrying-a-16-year-old-girl\",\"name\":\"Man Jailed Five Years For \\\"Marrying\\\" A 16-Year-Old Girl - 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