News / Local
'My girlfriend's parents filed false rape charges against me'
16 Sep 2022 at 06:18hrs | Views
A twenty-nine-YEAR-OLD man from Bulawayo who is languishing in prison after being slapped with a 20-year prison sentence claimed his girlfriend's parents filed false rape charges against him as a way of "fixing" him for having a relationship with their daughter.
Mthulisi Mguni, who has so far served 11 years, said the idea of "fixing" him was hatched by his girlfriend's parents who disapproved of his relationship with their daughter.
"It was an unfortunate situation that when I was 19 years old, I fell in love with our neighbour's minor daughter and during that time our parents were not getting along very well so as a way of settling their scores they decided to fix me. Before that one of our neighbours warned me of the plot but I didn't take it seriously.
"When my lover's parents later approached me I also didn't take them seriously as I continued dating their daughter and little did I know that one day the relationship would cost me my freedom and at the same time ruin my future considering the fact that I was only 19 years old by then," he said.
Mguni said soon after being confronted about their relationship he spoke to his girlfriend about the issue and they agreed to stop seeing each other for some time hoping that things would change.
In a desperate bid to make sure that their relationship had been completely terminated, the girl's parents reportedly hired people to closely monitor their movements.
"When I spoke with my girlfriend about this issue we agreed to stop seeing each other for a couple of weeks as we wanted to calm the situation. We later rekindled our love and those people who had been hired to monitor our movements reported to the girl's parents that we were still seeing each other.
"Our continuation then forced the girl's parents to come up with another idea to make sure that I did not see their daughter for a very long time, "he claimed.
Mguni said soon after their "reunion," they started having consensual sex and the girl's parents exploited that as an opportunity to press rape charges against him.
He claimed the girl's parents reported the matter to the police and filed a rape charge.
"When my girlfriend's parents discovered that I was now having sexual intercourse with their daughter they used that opportunity to press rape charges against me. I believe that the charges were supposed to be that of having sexual intercourse with a minor since it was consensual and that the girl had also lied about her age to me.
"The issue was reported to the police and I was arrested and later taken to court where I was found guilty of rape instead of a lesser charge of sleeping with a minor.
"I was sentenced to 20 years in prison which is something that really destroyed me considering the fact that I was only 19 years old," said Mguni.
He said soon after being given the lengthy sentence he was sent to Khami Remand Prison, where he met other inmates who had committed similar offences or even worse.
"When I first got to Khami Remand life was not easy as I never thought I was going to complete this lengthy sentence of 20 years as this was also the time for me to start preparing for my future. This really stressed me a lot as I saw my life going down to waste but with time I later started accepting the fact that I was a convict.
"While in prison as inmates we were given an opportunity to go for entertainment depending on what one enjoys a lot and during that time I joined an arts group called Insizwa Zomndeni.
"This was an imbube dance group I really enjoyed singing such that I ended up composing songs for the group, some of which we later performed in front of other inmates as part of our entertainment, "he said.
Mguni said he was later transferred to Khami Maximum Prison, where he later joined Khami School of Arts better known as (Khasa).This group gave him an opportunity to compete with other groups run by private organisations out there.
Khami Maximum Prison
"While at Khami Maximum we had an opportunity to compete with groups from outside and from those competitions we gained a lot of exposure such that we started working on our productions for television.
"In short I would like to thank the management of Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) for adopting the correctional aspect that mainly focuses on developing the talent of an inmate into a productive citizen," he said.
Mthulisi Mguni, who has so far served 11 years, said the idea of "fixing" him was hatched by his girlfriend's parents who disapproved of his relationship with their daughter.
"It was an unfortunate situation that when I was 19 years old, I fell in love with our neighbour's minor daughter and during that time our parents were not getting along very well so as a way of settling their scores they decided to fix me. Before that one of our neighbours warned me of the plot but I didn't take it seriously.
"When my lover's parents later approached me I also didn't take them seriously as I continued dating their daughter and little did I know that one day the relationship would cost me my freedom and at the same time ruin my future considering the fact that I was only 19 years old by then," he said.
Mguni said soon after being confronted about their relationship he spoke to his girlfriend about the issue and they agreed to stop seeing each other for some time hoping that things would change.
In a desperate bid to make sure that their relationship had been completely terminated, the girl's parents reportedly hired people to closely monitor their movements.
"When I spoke with my girlfriend about this issue we agreed to stop seeing each other for a couple of weeks as we wanted to calm the situation. We later rekindled our love and those people who had been hired to monitor our movements reported to the girl's parents that we were still seeing each other.
"Our continuation then forced the girl's parents to come up with another idea to make sure that I did not see their daughter for a very long time, "he claimed.
Mguni said soon after their "reunion," they started having consensual sex and the girl's parents exploited that as an opportunity to press rape charges against him.
He claimed the girl's parents reported the matter to the police and filed a rape charge.
"When my girlfriend's parents discovered that I was now having sexual intercourse with their daughter they used that opportunity to press rape charges against me. I believe that the charges were supposed to be that of having sexual intercourse with a minor since it was consensual and that the girl had also lied about her age to me.
"The issue was reported to the police and I was arrested and later taken to court where I was found guilty of rape instead of a lesser charge of sleeping with a minor.
"I was sentenced to 20 years in prison which is something that really destroyed me considering the fact that I was only 19 years old," said Mguni.
He said soon after being given the lengthy sentence he was sent to Khami Remand Prison, where he met other inmates who had committed similar offences or even worse.
"When I first got to Khami Remand life was not easy as I never thought I was going to complete this lengthy sentence of 20 years as this was also the time for me to start preparing for my future. This really stressed me a lot as I saw my life going down to waste but with time I later started accepting the fact that I was a convict.
"While in prison as inmates we were given an opportunity to go for entertainment depending on what one enjoys a lot and during that time I joined an arts group called Insizwa Zomndeni.
"This was an imbube dance group I really enjoyed singing such that I ended up composing songs for the group, some of which we later performed in front of other inmates as part of our entertainment, "he said.
Mguni said he was later transferred to Khami Maximum Prison, where he later joined Khami School of Arts better known as (Khasa).This group gave him an opportunity to compete with other groups run by private organisations out there.
Khami Maximum Prison
"While at Khami Maximum we had an opportunity to compete with groups from outside and from those competitions we gained a lot of exposure such that we started working on our productions for television.
"In short I would like to thank the management of Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) for adopting the correctional aspect that mainly focuses on developing the talent of an inmate into a productive citizen," he said.
Source - B-Metro
