Two cousins were on Thursday fined ZWL$40 000 each by a magistrate after they pleaded guilty to incest.
Incest refers to sexual relations between people classed as being too closely related to marry each other.
Josphat Muswati (28) and Jaqueline Kamwendo (22) pleaded guilty when they appeared before Harare regional magistrate, Gloria Takundwa.
Takundwa fined them $40 000 each, plus a wholly suspended sentence of 14 months in prison.
Prosecutors told the court that Muswati and Kamwendo are second-line cousins in the sense that Muswatiโs father and Kamwendoโs grandfather are brothers who share the same parents.
The court heard that sometime in July 2020, Kamwendo visited her uncle Muswati at his house and proposed love to her. Jacqueline accepted the proposal.
The two cousins started living together as a couple fully aware that they were related.
However, in April this year, the two had a misunderstanding, which prompted Jacqueline to file a false police report of rape.
Police detectives discovered that the two were related resulting in charges of having sex within a prohibited degree of relationship.
In mitigation, Muswati said that he plans to marry his niece and will pay a token of lobola known as โchekahukamaโ to legalise their union traditionally.
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น. ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐น