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Fungai Jachi Court Correspondent
A former nurse aide at Parirenyatwa Hospital, who unlawfully occupied a house at the nurses’ homes on the hospital premises, was on Thursday fined $50 by a Harare magistrate for criminal trespassing.

Appearing before Ms Nomsa Sabarauta, Elvis Gorwa (24), of Nzvere Village in Chief Musana’s area, Bindura, pleaded guilty to the charge.

He pleaded with the court for a non-custodial sentence saying he was a single parent and jobless.

“I ended up staying at the said premises because I had no option. I told myself that I would squat at the place until I found a job. My situation is hopeless, I can’t take care of myself or my child, my younger brother is the one who takes care of both of us,” he said.

Ms Sabarauta spared him incarceration and fined him $50, but warned him that failure to pay the fine would land him in jail.

Facts are that on December 28 last year, authorities at Parirenyatwa received information that Gorwa was unlawfully staying at Adlan Complex, where nurses at the hospital reside, without permission.

The court heard that upon being questioned, Gorwa told the authorities that he was once employed as a nurse assistant at the hospital and resigned in 2013 but had nowhere else to stay while looking for a job.

Gorwa was asked to leave the premises, but refused and a report was made to police leading to his arrest.

Mrs Devoted Gwashavanhu Nyagano prosecuted.