The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Correspondent
STOCKHOLM syndrome is a psychological response that occurs when abuse victims bond with their abusers. This psychological connection develops over the course of days, weeks, months, or even years of captivity or abuse.
The syndrome has gripped a Chimanimani 14-year-old teenage mother who is refusing to let go of her 32-year-old married neighbour-cum-abuser.
The minor was impregnated when she was only 13 and cohabited with her lover, Decide Dandauro, until December last year.
Her parents did not know her whereabouts until she visited them for the Christmas holidays with an eight months old baby in tow.
When the teen’s parents realised that the baby had been fathered by their neighbour, Dandauro, and that he was renting a room for her a few kilometres from their homestead and stopping her from visiting them, they reported the matter to Chief Saurombe.
When the matter recently appeared before the chief, he referred it to the police citing jurisdiction.
“The outcome of the criminal matter will determine how my court will deal with it. The case is no longer in my jurisdiction. I only deal with such matters after police investigations have been done and the issue has been finalised at the magistrate’s court.
“We all cannot talk her out of this affair as she has grown to love the man. But then our Constitution clearly states that a child this young cannot consent to intimacy,” said Chief Saurombe.
The minor was adamant about her marital status and boldly told the chief and The Manica Post that she does not want to go back to school.
“I love my husband so much. I do not want to go back to school because I will not be able to feed my child if I do that.
“My husband and l met when I was doing Form One. We were in a relationship for a year before we became intimate. I fell pregnant and we decided to cohabit without my parents and his first wife’s knowledge.
“I love him because he looked after me and the child back then. It was only after I came back home that everything changed. He stopped sending groceries and taking care of us. However, he takes good care of his first wife and children,” she said.
The minor’s mother said she wants justice to prevail.
“She is still very young. I cannot let her continue being a child bride. This man has destroyed her life. She is very intelligent in school and I was expecting her to get a good education. I am sure she will see the light and go back to school,” said the bitter woman.
The teen’s mother is a few years older than Dandauro and she says that age difference is a pain in her flesh.
“He is my age mate, but he saw it fit to manipulate my daughter, someone young enough to be his own child. He took advantage of her. Just imagine a 32-year-old man sleeping with a 13-year-old girl and then cohabiting with her without her parents’ knowledge. They stayed together in Bumba while I thought my child was missing,” she said.
The teen’s father died in January soon after making a police report against Dandauro. However, the matter is yet to appear before Chipinge Magistrates’ Court as the mother had then taken the traditional court’s route.
Contacted for comment, Dandauro said he loves his child bride and wants her back.
“I did not force her like what her uncles want everyone to believe. I did not rape her. She was my girlfriend and I want her back.
“She actually told me that she was 16-years-old when I first met her and I believed her. I do not know why everyone is making a fuss out of this issue. I am prepared to appear in court because I am innocent,” said a defiant Dandauro.
According to the statutes of the country, a person who engages in sexual activity with a child below 16 with the consent of the child is guilty of statutory rape as the law lays down that the consent of the child is no defence to this charge.
The law seeks to protect children from sexual exploitation. The Constitution defines a child as a boy or a girl under the age of 18 years
