A SENIOR officer with the Salvation Army was “schooled” by an underage teenager that he was proposing love to when she became smart enough to record his advances on video using her smartphone.
Godwell Hufa whose rank with the church is that of Major and is stationed at the Mpopoma branch in Bulawayo has been for sometime trying to get a teenager (name supplied) from the church to fall in love with him.
In one of the video footages recorded by the teenager, the man of God is told to go to his wife but he says there is no one waiting for him at home.
In another clip the Major tells the teenager that they should find time to be together but complains that the girl was playing hard to get.
The teenager then asks him why he calls her using a private number of which the Major says he would be playing safe.
The Major also promised an incentive for his “catch-to-be” in the form of paying for her church trip. The amount was $10.
In some of the messages the Major even asks to visit the teenager at her home since she had told him that she was home alone.
His reason for wanting to see her was to “plan issues to do with L” — L standing for life.
The teenager alerted some of her family members who instructed her to record and file every communication coming from the Major.
“This is not fair, she is in form 3 and someone as old as her grandfather wants her to be his girlfriend. That is outright wrong,” said a cousin of the teenager.
When called, Major Hufa at first pleaded for the story not to be written.
“Please don’t write that. Can I call you at around 6pm (Tuesday),” he said.
As it would turn out, he never called and when he was called for the second time he answered the phone and then handed it to a woman.
“We have no comment about your story,” the woman said, although she was never part of the story at any point.
At first the teenager was scared of talking to our source but her relatives assured her that she would be protected.
“He started telling me that he loved me at a youth camp in Matopo but I ignored him until last month when he offered to pay $10 for a junior soldiers camp we had in Sauerstown. He said I should come to his house to collect the money on a Tuesday because his wife would not be at home,” she said.
With video evidence in hand the pair reported Hufa to the divisional commander of the Salvation Army who promised to take action within two days.
“It’s been three weeks since we reported him to the divisional commander but we have not been given a response. It’s clear the church elder is protecting the reverend and the image of the church,” said the cousin.
Two other young girls are believed to have been victims of the reverend’s sexual advances since he joined the Mpopoma branch.
“They are too scared to come forward but we thought with this kind of evidence (video) the church will be forced to take action,” she added.
0 Yorumlar