23rd August, 2017
A Magistrates‘ Court on Wednesday sentenced a Zimbabwe couple to 30 months in prison for duping a man of a bride price of 3,000 dollars.
Brian Mathe, 30 and wife Stephanie, 20, who played brother and sister opened a Facebook account in February which they used to lure 56-year-old Nyakanyaka Msipani, into a false love relationship.
After opening the Facebook account and hooking up with Msipani, Pullen introduced her husband Mathe as a brother and said that the bride price should be paid to him since their parents were dead.
Magistrate Victoria Mashamba, suspended a year each on their jail terms for five years on condition of good behaviour and another six months on condition that they restitute Pullen 4,029 dollars.
In passing sentence, magistrate Mashamba, said the couple deserved a custodial sentence.
“You have looked down upon the marriage institution. They caused emotional and psychological stress to the complainant who believed that he was getting married,’’ she said.