KWEKWE – The parents of child bride Anna Machaya, who died while giving birth on July 15, were denied bail on Friday after being charged with obstructing a police investigation and pledging a female person.
Edmore Machaya, 45, and his wife Shy Mabika, 36, were not asked to plead during a brief appearance before Kwekwe magistrate Florence Nago.
On the same day, 15-year-old Anna’s “husband” Hatirarami Momberume, 26, was separately charged with her murder before a court in Mutare. He also faces a second charge of having sexual intercourse with a minor which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
The National Prosecuting Authority said police investigating Anna’s death at a shrine of the Johanne Marange church in Marange were sent on a wild goose chase by the teen’s parents.
Michelle Daraja, prosecuting, said Machaya and his wife gave police an ID of Memory Machaya who was born on January 2, 1999, and purported that she was their dead daughter in an apparent bid to save Momberume from going to jail.
Police investigators, the court heard, were however able to prove that Memory Machaya is Anna’s cousin and is alive. Her father is Edmore’s brother, Ernest Machaya.
A birth certificate obtained from Wanganui Secondary School in Mhondoro – where Anna dropped out in Form 1 – proved that she was born on July 5, 2006, to parents Edmore Machaya and Shy Mabika. She was 14 when she fell pregnant.
Prosecutors are also charging Anna’s parents with pledging a female person after they allegedly offered their nine-year-old daughter to Momberume as a “replacement” for Anna.
Hatirarami Momberume’s father, Eliakim Momberume, is a brother to the Johanne Marange church’s powerful leader, Noah Taguta Momberume.
