BULAWAYO A local man was arrested and briefly appeared in court for allegedly robbing an HIV positive woman of two bottles of Anti Retroviral tablets ARVs and a cell phone.
Fanuel Sibanda, 25, who is unemployed, appeared before Bulawayo Magistrate, Charity Maphosa, for contravening section 126 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, chapter 9:23. Sibanda and the woman are alleged to have been involved in a love affair. The man pleaded not guilty to the charge but was, however, remanded in custody to March 8. In November last year, Sibanda approached the complainant, who is a hawker, where she was selling clothes and other wares and informed her that he had found her a job as a cook at his workplace and should go with him for an interview.
The woman boarded a bus with Sibanda to Kensington the same day. The two allegedly got off the bus in a secluded area where Sibanda is alleged to have produced a knife and robbed the woman of two bottles of ARV tablets, clinic card, passport, black tracksuit top, R35, $12 and a Nokia 1200. Sibanda, in his defence, said that he and the complainant were in love and he had contracted HIV from her.