A taxi driver from Plumtree allegedly kidnapped three girls aged, 13 and 15, took them to a nightclub where he spent several hours with them fondling their private parts interchangeably.
Honest Ndlovu, 33, who alleged that the 13-year-old girl was his girlfriend, offered the three girls a lift from their rural home in Ngwanyana on Tuesday morning to a nearby clinic in Madabe, Mangwe. The two other girls are both aged 15.
Ndlovu was supposed to appear in court yesterday facing indecent assault and kidnapping charges but the prosecution returned the docket to the police for further investigations. He is now expected to appear in court on June 17 by way of summons.
The three girls, who are cousins, are primary school dropouts. Ndlovu, who is married, reportedly offered the girls a lift back to their homestead a few hours later and instead proceeded with them to Plumtree where he took them to Dumms Palace Nightclub.
He allegedly fondled the three girls while he was with them in his car without their consent.
The owner of the nightclub informed a police officer around 1AM on the following day after realising that the man was in the company of young children.
The mother of one of the victims who stays in Gassavu area in Plumtree said the girls alleged that Ndlovu drove them to Plumtree without their consent.
“One of the girls is my child and the other two are my nieces. I stay in Plumtree and my child stays with her aunt who is the mother of the youngest girl at our rural home. The other girl’s mother works in Botswana.
“I was shocked to get a call from the police on Wednesday morning telling me that my daughter and nieces were found at a nightclub with a grown man,’’ said the woman.
She said the youngest girl dropped out of school while she was in Grade 4 and the other two dropped out in Grade 7 as the family was facing financial challenges.
The woman said the three girls first told the police that Ndlovu was their uncle and that he was taking them to visit their sick grandmother.
She said the girls later revealed that the man had taken them without their consent and that he had fondled their breasts, private parts and thighs.
“I wasn’t aware that the children were missing from home. I don’t know what they were doing with a man far older than them. The man is married, to make matters worse.
“When I asked why they were going to the clinic in the first place they said my sister had advised them to go for an HIV test,” said the woman as she sobbed.
An aunt of the girls who stays in Solwezi said her younger sister who was staying with the children was unable to monitor them effectively as she was ill.