Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. A CHINESE national has landed in the dock for trying to traffic two Zimbabwe minors to his home country for marriage.
Chen De Hu, 39, is jointly charged with his father-in-law, Joseph Rabson, 44, and Shame Mafido, 47, both locals from Karoi.
Mafido and Rabson, are close relatives of the minors.
It is alleged that Mafido and Rabson lied that the girls would receive a sponsorship to study in China.
The court heard that on October 18, the trio facilitated the transportation of the three victims from Karoi to Harare.
They then booked a room for them at Hillview Lodge, Belvedere where they stayed for four days awaiting the processing of their travel documents.
“Since the required age of marriage in China is 20, the accused fraudulently acquired new birth certificates and national identification documents for the two victims of which two are minors after supplying false information on dates of birth to depict the victims as adults,” reads court papers.
The three allegedly facilitated the acquiring of a new Zimbabwean passport for the third victim by paying the amount required to achieve total control.
Detectives from the Counter Terrorism Unit arrested the three at Hillview Lodge after receiving a tip-off that there were minors being harbored.
The investigating officer, Detective Constable Stephen Gandidzanwa urged the court to lock up the trio, stating that they abused the relationship they had with the three.
“They should be denied bail and chances are high that they will abscond. The victims are minors. Accused 1 (Chen) is related to accused 2 (Rabson) as he is his son-in-law. He (Chen) came to Zimbabwe in connivance with accuseds 2 and 3 (Mafido) and were recruiting children for child marriages in China. Rabson deceived one of the victims by indicating that she will be married in China,’ said the IO.
He said the fact that the trio fraudulently acquired national identification cards for the victims weighed heavily against them.
The three now await bail ruling.
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