Working in cahoots with his sister, a Zimbabwean pastor who paid for his 12-year-old daughter to be snuck into the country has pleaded guilty to child smuggling.
Keen not to waste court’s time, 40-year-old Trust Cherigo; his sibling, Anywhere Cherigo, 38; and the ‘transporter’, Watson Milidzani Ncube, 33, all admitted breaking the law.
“I left my children in Zimbabwe, and they need me, my worship. I just want this matter to finish so I can go back home,” a remorseful Trust told Francistown Magistrates’ Court in his confession.
It appears Anywhere, who is the little girl’s aunt and lives with her in Harare as the mother is currently in South Africa, hired Ncube to smuggle the child into Botswana, paying him US$25 (roughly P340) for his troubles.
On February 1st, Anywhere entered the country legally at Ramokgwebana Border Post while Ncube and the child slipped into BW near Jackalas village, walking for hours in the heat through dense bush.
The plan was to meet up with the Cherigos in Francistown, where Trust, an apostle at Johan Masowe Church in the second city, was to take his daughter clothes shopping.
It all came undone at Bissoli Gate, near Tshesebe, when cops stopped the combi Ncube and the girl had managed to catch.
Noticing the child was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration, the police questioned her travelling partner, Ncube, who quickly came clean with the truth.
The Cherigos were arrested the following day.
All three are due back in court next Friday for facts reading and sentencing, with Trust’s predicament slightly worse as he was in the country illegally.
Meanwhile, having being kept in a safe house in Francistown, the little girl was recently sent back home to relatives in Zim.
