News / National
Mistaken identity lands man in court
17 Dec 2014 at 11:02hrs | Views
In a case of mistaken identity, a Harare man has been arrested on charges of engaging sex with a minor, a crime allegedly committed by his identical twin brother.
Robson Justin Garabga (23) was yesterday brought before a Harare magistrate on allegations of sleeping with a 15-year-old girl from his neighbourhood.
Garabga had a hard time in court as he tried to explain that it was his identical twin brother who was in a relationship with the girl.
He denied the allegations arguing that it was his twin brother who committed the offence.
"Your worship, my twin brother is the one who committed this offence as he is the one who was in love with this girl. People used to see them together so her parents just came with the police and told them I was the perpetrator.
"Now my twin brother is on the run and the girl's whereabouts are not known which could mean that they ran away together.
"If I am the one who committed the offence, why then did I not run away? Your worship, I did not commit this offence, I am actually married with one child," he said.
Prosecutor Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa could not have any of it as he strongly opposed bail adding that Garabga was likely to face an additional charge of kidnapping.
Mr Mutizirwa added that his brother was still at large hence they could team up and abscond trial.
He further added that they could have worked together to commit the offence.
In response Garabga had this to say, "When I was called for questioning by the police, after writing down my statement, they ordered me to go back home, so if I wanted to run away as alleged by the State, I could have done so when the police released me."
In his ruling, magistrate Mr Milton Serima said it was not in the interest of justice to remand Garabga in custody basing on assumptions.
"It is not proper to take him as bait while waiting for his twin brother to be apprehended," he said.
Source - The Herald
