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Prosper Dembedza Court Correspondent
A headmaster at Chikukwa Primary School in Mutoko yesterday escaped a two-month jail term for defaulting paying maintenance for his child after a Harare magistrate ordered him to pay the $600 in arrears before April 31.

Peter Alufaneti (52) was charged with failure to pay maintenance when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe.

Alufaneti pleaded guilty to the charge, saying he failed to pay the money because of financial constraints. Mr Mahwe initially slapped Alufaneti with a two-month jail term before suspending them on condition that he pays the $600 in maintenance arrears before the end of April. In passing sentence Mr Mahwe took into account that Alufaneti was a first offender. However, he said Alufaneti must be induced to maintain his child.

“You are hereby sentenced to two months in jail of which the two months are suspended on condition that you pay the $600 before April 31,” he said.

Allegations are that on November 3, 2014 Alufaneti was ordered by a Harare Civil Court magistrate to pay $40 per month as maintenance for the upkeep of his minor child.

The court heard that Alufaneti failed to pay the maintenance for the month of January 2015 to March 2016 and his total arrears accrued to $600.