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Herald Reporter
DESPERATE attempts by David Whitehead Textiles chief operations officer Edwin Chimanye to escape imprisonment for bedding a minor yesterday hit a brick wall after his lawyers were put to task by a High Court judge and subsequently dropped an application for reinstatement of appeal.

Chimanye was in 2013 jailed 18 months effective for becoming intimate with a 12-year-old girl, but he filed a notice of appeal at the High Court.

On the strength of the appeal, Chimanye successfully applied for bail the same year.
Since 2013, Chimanye did not do anything to prosecute his appeal as required by the law until the appeal was dismissed for want of prosecution.

Chimanye was enjoying his freedom all along until last week when the police learnt of the dismissal of the appeal.
Afraid of being caged, Chimanye instructed his lawyers to file an urgent chamber application at the High Court seeking reinstatement of the appeal.

Pressure mounted on his legal team during the hearing in the Chambers of Justice Jacob Manzunzu, resulting in Chimanye chickening out. The warrant of arrest issued against Chimanye still stands and if the police catch up with him, he will be locked up to serve the jail term.

Facts are that on January 7, 2013 around 5pm, Chimanye saw the girl walking along Ascot Road in Avondale, prompting him to stop his vehicle, giving her his business card. He contacted the girl before agreeing to meet on January 10 so that they would go out together.

Chimanye bought her a Nokia Asha for communication on WhatsApp and at one time a family friend saw the girl with the phone, went through the pair’s messages and became aware that the two were lovers.

Chimanye picked up the girl and her friends on the same day around 7pm and took them to Richwood Park where he ordered the friends to buy drinks and food, leaving him to fondle and kiss the girl in the vehicle. The girl told the court that Chimanye once asked her to look for a lodge near her residence and a family friend confirmed the pair’s relationship.

At one time, Chimanye asked the girl to send him her nude pictures, which she did.
The matter came to light when the girl’s parents discovered the mobile phone.
The parents made a report to the police, leading to Chimanye’s arrest.