By A Correspondent- A 49 year old man who was caught having se_x in the bush with a 12-year-old girl appeared before a Lupane resident magistrate facing a rap_e charge after he claimed he and the minor were in love.

On 25 November last year Andrew Ndlovu (49) of Lupane met the 12 -year -old girl in the fields while she was alone. He allegedly proposed love to the minor and she allegedly fell in love with him, the court heard.

On a date not known to the prosecutor but sometime in December last year, the two met at the fields where they had se_x.

After that Ndlovu would visit the minor at her home under the pretext that he was visiting his parents after which he would signal her to follow him and they would have se_x in the bush.

After that it became a norm that the two would arrange and meet in the bush and have se_x.

Their secret love affair was blown open when a man who was looking for his missing cattle bumped into the two while they were having se_x in a bushy area. The villager informed the minor’s mother who questioned her daughter about the se_xual affair. The teenage girl shocked her parents when she revealed that they were in love and had had se_x on several occasions.

The prosecutor told Ndlovu that at law it was a criminal offence to fall in love with a minor below the age of 16 because she was below the age of consent.

Ndlovu was not asked to plead when he appeared before Lupane resident magistrate Ndumo Masuku and was remanded in custody to 13 September for routine remand. He was advised to apply for bail at the High Court.

Clive Gumbo prosecuted.

-Statemedia