News / Local
Gay syndicate targets schoolboys
15 Oct 2021 at 06:18hrs | Views
The Zimbabwe Republic Police has unearthed a syndicate of gay male child molestors targeting school boys and assaulting them.
Investigations have revealed that the syndicate, which involves businesspeople, is targeting both boarding and day pupils whom they lure into their clutches.
Police uncovered the syndicate after they found a 16-year-old Mbare boy who had been missing since June, in Bulawayo.
He was found by detectives from the CID Homicide following intensive investigations that managed to track down the teenager to Bulawayo on Wednesday. He has since been reunited with his parents.
Police have arrested Emmanuel Chatikobo alias Lemmie Gwaku (48), believed to be a businessman who operates some mines. He appeared in court yesterday.
In July, a Harare man, who allegedly kidnapped a Mbare boy, also appeared before the courts, but Richard Padzarondora died in prison before trial.
However, he is now believed to have lured a Mutare boy into his car on June 29.
The boy allegedly left home going to Mbare High School to verify his 2021 Ordinary Level registration, before Padzarondora phoned and asked to meet him at some building in the central business district.
The State said that after the conversation, the boy's phone was switched off. Prosecutors further alleged that there was proof of communication showing Padzarondora had lured the boy to meet him in town. There was a witness who introduced the boy to Padzarondora, adding that Padzarondora was the last person to be seen with him.
After failing to locate the boy, his parents reported the matter at Mbare Police Station, leading to Padzarondora's arrest.
In a new twist of events, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said when the Mutare boy met Padzarondora, he surrendered the boy to Chatikobo, believed to be gay.
Chatikobo is alleged to have taken the boy to Crowhill area in Harare where he detained him for four days before giving him US$80 cash, which the boy then used to travel to Bulawayo where he has been staying.
The boy had met both Padzarondora and Chatikobo through social media.
"Police investigations have unearthed that there are various social media groups, especially on Facebook, that are waylaying children in schools especially the boy child with the aim of sexually abusing and sodomising them.
Investigations have revealed that the syndicate, which involves businesspeople, is targeting both boarding and day pupils whom they lure into their clutches.
Police uncovered the syndicate after they found a 16-year-old Mbare boy who had been missing since June, in Bulawayo.
He was found by detectives from the CID Homicide following intensive investigations that managed to track down the teenager to Bulawayo on Wednesday. He has since been reunited with his parents.
Police have arrested Emmanuel Chatikobo alias Lemmie Gwaku (48), believed to be a businessman who operates some mines. He appeared in court yesterday.
In July, a Harare man, who allegedly kidnapped a Mbare boy, also appeared before the courts, but Richard Padzarondora died in prison before trial.
However, he is now believed to have lured a Mutare boy into his car on June 29.
The State said that after the conversation, the boy's phone was switched off. Prosecutors further alleged that there was proof of communication showing Padzarondora had lured the boy to meet him in town. There was a witness who introduced the boy to Padzarondora, adding that Padzarondora was the last person to be seen with him.
After failing to locate the boy, his parents reported the matter at Mbare Police Station, leading to Padzarondora's arrest.
In a new twist of events, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said when the Mutare boy met Padzarondora, he surrendered the boy to Chatikobo, believed to be gay.
Chatikobo is alleged to have taken the boy to Crowhill area in Harare where he detained him for four days before giving him US$80 cash, which the boy then used to travel to Bulawayo where he has been staying.
The boy had met both Padzarondora and Chatikobo through social media.
"Police investigations have unearthed that there are various social media groups, especially on Facebook, that are waylaying children in schools especially the boy child with the aim of sexually abusing and sodomising them.
Source - The Chronicle
