Bulawayo businessman, Sonny Phiri is in serious trouble after the police began investigating his affair with teenager Rumbidzai Sibanda.
Phiri reportedly started dating her before the legal age of consent. A complaint was filed at Hillside Police Station by the teenager's father, Headman Sibanda, after the girl reportedly went missing on Sunday.
According to a police officer at the station, Phiri, who is the husband to former Miss Zimbabwe Lorraine Maphala, is likely to be charged for being involved and having sexual intercourse with a minor, if any incriminating evidence is gathered.
The police source said the complaint was filed between Tuesday and Wednesday last week after Rumbidzai reportedly ran away from home. "A police report was filed against Phiri, after news of his affair broke out. Initially police were dealing with a case of a missing person, who happens to be the girl. She is believed to have run away from home after the story broke out, as she feared facing her parents."
The girl is reported to have spent a night at a friend's house in town and the police are also going to visit that person. After spending a night there she reportedly proceeded to Harare, where she sought refuge also at a friend's place. The report was however terminated after she was found and a sexual abuse report against Phiri was then made," said the police officer.
Phiri is alleged to have started seeing the teenager when she was 15. The legal age of consent in Zimbabwe is 16. Phiri was in 2003 accused by a family from a church he used to lead of being in a sexual relationship with their underage daughter, but the matter was reportedly settled out of court.
The teenager-cum-mistress in the current affair is an 18-year-old college student who lives about 800 metres away from the Phiri's mansion in Selborne Park. Phiri and Maphala wed last year in November and their wedding was publicised as the wedding of the year, attracting the attention of the who's who of Bulawayo.
Phiri reportedly started dating her before the legal age of consent. A complaint was filed at Hillside Police Station by the teenager's father, Headman Sibanda, after the girl reportedly went missing on Sunday.
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| Lorraine Maphala |
According to a police officer at the station, Phiri, who is the husband to former Miss Zimbabwe Lorraine Maphala, is likely to be charged for being involved and having sexual intercourse with a minor, if any incriminating evidence is gathered.
The police source said the complaint was filed between Tuesday and Wednesday last week after Rumbidzai reportedly ran away from home. "A police report was filed against Phiri, after news of his affair broke out. Initially police were dealing with a case of a missing person, who happens to be the girl. She is believed to have run away from home after the story broke out, as she feared facing her parents."
The girl is reported to have spent a night at a friend's house in town and the police are also going to visit that person. After spending a night there she reportedly proceeded to Harare, where she sought refuge also at a friend's place. The report was however terminated after she was found and a sexual abuse report against Phiri was then made," said the police officer.
Phiri is alleged to have started seeing the teenager when she was 15. The legal age of consent in Zimbabwe is 16. Phiri was in 2003 accused by a family from a church he used to lead of being in a sexual relationship with their underage daughter, but the matter was reportedly settled out of court.
The teenager-cum-mistress in the current affair is an 18-year-old college student who lives about 800 metres away from the Phiri's mansion in Selborne Park. Phiri and Maphala wed last year in November and their wedding was publicised as the wedding of the year, attracting the attention of the who's who of Bulawayo.
