By Own Correspondent| A Harare man on Wednesday learnt that retweeting a parody account can land one in court and time behind bars.
Night Tawona Shadaya, 25, pleaded guilty to criminal insult after telling a Harare magistrate that he was drunk when he retweeted a fake Twitter account purportedly belonging to ZEC Chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba.
Days after the July 30 elections, Shadaya retweeted the parody account stating that the ZEC chairperson could not wait for the election season to go on holiday and enjoy herself.
Read the tweet:
“I can’t wait for the election fiasco to come to an end. I could do with a holiday and some good sex. My body needs a break.”
Chigumba was forced to issue a statement clarifying that she did not have a Twitter account hence was not behind the purported tweet.
However, Shadaya told a Harare court:
“I don’t know who owns that account or its origin and all I can ask for is mercy. What I did was not intentional, even when I heard about the charges I’m facing, I apologised on all social media platforms and even warned others against making the same mistake.”
He admitted that his retweet impaired Chigumba’s dignity and asked for forgiveness.
Prosecutor, Francesca Mukumbiri said Shadaya’s defence was a guilty plea.
Shadaya is set to learn his fate on Thursday after he was remanded in custody.
In mitigation, he told the court that he owns nothing of value and is not employed.