A Zimbabwean cross border truck driver has been arrested for allegedly trafficking two minor girls for the purposes of sexually exploiting them.
He promised to pay their school fees when, in fact, he wanted to sexually exploit them.
Allegations are that, the accused, James Mahachi, 52, who is a cross border trucker used a clearing agent Brighton Nyamandi to recruit the two minor girls, aged 13 and 17, from Hurungwe in Zimbabwe.
Mahachi was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Yeukai Dzuda.
His accomplice Nyamandi, is currently on the run.
The offence happened between September 2021 and March 2022.
Mahachi is a cross border truck driver, whose job takes him to South Africa, Zambia and the DRC.
It is the State’s case that Mahachi transported the two girls in his haulage truck and trafficked them for labour, and sexual exploitation.
He lied to the victims that he was going to send them to school and pay their fees.
The two girls’ parents released them into the custody of Mahachi, who never took them to school, as promised.
Instead, he abused his power over the victims and subjected them to domestic duties and sexual exploitation.
Mahachi allegedly took them on a ride to South Africa while on his work assignment.
He would sleep with them in his truck, and would threaten to dump them in South Africa, if they refused to sleep with him.
It is alleged that, when he returned from South Africa, he took them to his house, where he slept with them in his bedroom.
The court heard that one night, one of the girls escaped.
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She sought refuge at a nearby home where she met Charity Munemo.
Munemo assisted her to make a police report and the minor is in a safe house under the care of the Department of Social Welfare.
The other girl is yet to be accounted for.
Tapiwa Zvidzai appeared for the State.
