Lying ‘maid’ steals suitors’ hearts

By Walter Nyamukondiwa

The Chinhoyi boy who dressed as a girl and secured a job as a housemaid at a farm outside the town recently attracted several men who fell in love with him thinking he was a woman.

Armed with the poise of an ordinary girl and matching ladies’ attire, the cheeky teenager managed to hoodwink several people who took him on his word.

He not only managed to fool his employer Mrs Viola Mapuranga of Stand Number 27, Cheuchi Farm, Village 4 here, but also had men going after him.

One of the men who fell for the boy during his stay at the farm, which lasted a week, said he would help carry buckets of water for him and did several favours in a bid to win the “her” heart.

“The situation is awkward, but that is the truth,” said the man who refused to be named.

“I was surprised to hear that the girl I had been pursuing all along is actually a man.

“We never suspected anything as he was donning ladies’ shoes with hair kempt backwards. I fell in love with him thinking that he was a beautiful girl who had just arrived in our area.”

The teenager’s shenanigans were exposed at Chinhoyi Rural Police Station during a search for money he had stolen from his employer.

Narrating her ordeal, Mrs Mapuranga said last Wednesday, she arrived home from church to find the boy at her home.

Her 14-year-old daughter had met the boy who claimed that he was coming from Chikangwe in Karoi and was sent by his father to find their relatives.

He introduced himself as Patience Mapuranga, an indication that the boy had done his homework about the Mapuranga family.

Mrs Mapuranga was convinced since her late husband had once told her that he had relatives in Karoi.

“I welcomed him after being convinced that he was a member of the Mapuranga family and his father was my husband’s brother,” she said.

“I gave him a job as a housemaid, not knowing that I was being fooled. I had never met such a character and never suspected that anything was amiss.

“He would carry out household chores like any normal girl. I had no problems with ‘her’ work ethic for the time that he was living with us.”

The boy was so mischievous that he would sleep in the same room with Mrs Mapuranga’s 14-year-old daughter.

After a week of service as the housemaid, the boy left unannounced and ended up in Epworth at Ms Tatenda Kanazache’s house.

He introduced himself as a daughter to one of her former tenants known as Mai Muzhuzha before telling Ms Kanazache that he had been sent by his mother to tell her that she wanted to return and stay at the house.

The boy then asked to be accommodated for the night while awaiting “her” mother to come in person the following morning.

Back in Chinhoyi, Mrs Mapuranga had discovered that her Samsung cellphone and clothes, including 13 body tops, a bag, 12 shirts, two petticoats and an umbrella were missing.

She called her cellphone number and it was answered by Ms Kanazache who then quizzed the boy.

He admitted to having stolen from Mrs Mapuranga and was taken to Epworth Police Station where he gave his name as Anna Muzhuzha aged 16.

Unsuspecting police officers put the boy in the same cells with some female suspects where he slept before being transferred to Chinhoyi.

His luck ran out when police officers at Chinhoyi Rural Police Station searched him and discovered that the person they had all along treated as a girl was in fact a boy.

At Chinhoyi Magistrates’ Court, the boy, who was still donning a red skirt and a multi-coloured golf shirt, attracted the attention of hordes of people who wanted to catch a glimpse of him.

Unperturbed, the teenager would wave at the people as he was being whisked to Chinhoyi Remand Prison after being remanded in custody for determination of the appropriate sentence.

The boy told magistrate Miss Nyasha Kuture that her stay with the Mapuranga family was enjoyable.

“Our stay was normal and she (Mrs Mapuranga’s daughter whom he shared the same bedroom with) would change her clothes in my presence, but I would never change while she was in the room,” said the boy.

“I did not do anything to her during the stay. I did not have any ‘feelings’ towards her.”

Miss Kuture said at law, the boy had violated Mrs Mapuranga’s daughter by seeing her naked. The Herald