Man jailed for kidnapping relatives

A 25-year-old Chipinge man, Knowledge Mwaremedzera, was sentenced to four years in prison by Chipinge magistrate Nixon Mangoti for kidnapping a couple. The convict is a nephew of the couple.

However, Mwaremedzera will serve three years behind bars after Magistrate Mangoti conditionally suspended one year of the sentence.

The court heard that on June 26, at Musani Primary Grounds, under Chief Mutema, Chipinge, the convict and his co-accused, who are still at large, forcefully took the complainants, who are husband and wife and loaded them into their unregistered Honda Vit vehicle boot before whisking them off to Chidondo, Rusitu area in Chipinge.

A day later, the convict released the husband to go and prepare for the family ritual and remained with the wife, whom he had taken to Mozambique on the pretext that they were resolving family issues.

She was detained and released as a hostage on 1 February.