TWO cousins were yesterday fined after they pleaded guilty to incest.

Josphat Muswati and Jaqueline Kamwendo pleaded guilty when they appeared before Harare regional magistrate, Gloria Takundwa.

She fined them $40 000 each, coupled with a wholly suspended sentence of 14 months.

The court heard that the two are second line cousins in the sense that Muswati’s father and Kamwendo’s grandfather are brothers who share the same parents.

The court heard that sometime in July 2020, Kamwendo, 22, visited her uncle Muswati, 28, at his house and proposed to Jacqueline and she agreed.

The two started living together as a couple knowing they were related.

In April this year, the two had a misunderstanding, which prompted Jacqueline to file a false police report of rape.

But, upon investigation, the two were charged for having sex within a prohibited degree of relationship.

In mitigation, Muswati told the court that he intends to marry his niece and will pay a token of lobola known as “chekahukama” to legalise their relationship traditionally. H Metro