'Gay couple' charged for false accusation

AN attempt to mislead the police by two men who alleged to be a gay couple backfired when the court fined them $100 or one month behind bars for deliberately supplying false information to a public authority.

A Harare court yesterday heard that Martin Tshuma (40) from Kuwadzana 3 and Misheck Mupinga(28) from Unit M, Seke had their statements recorded on September 30 this year indicating that they were "lovers" for the past year.

This was revealed after Mupinga had approached the police alleging that his friend Tshuma had sodomised him and statements were recorded from both of them separately and they confirmed that they were lovers.

However, on October 1 the pair changed their statements saying they wanted to fix each other by filing false reports.

Mupinga, who separated with his two wives, told the court that he made the false report because his friend wanted to take away his fridge - which he had bought for him on friendly terms - so that he uses the money settle his debt. Tshuma also denied having a homosexual affair with Mupinga.