A failed asylum seeker who had unlawful sex with a mental health patient shocked friends with his crime, a housemate said today.
Tawanda Machingura, an illegal immigrant, was jailed for two years for having unlawful sex with the patient while working as a carer.
Machingura, 33, whose plea for asylum was rejected by the Home Office, used forged papers to get an agency job at Runwell Hospital in Wickford, where the attack took place.
Machingura had sex with, and made pregnant, a 27-year-old patient, on June 8 last year.
A friend of the Zimbabwean, who wished to remain anonymous, lived in the same house as Machingura in Westbury Road, Southend, and knew him in Zimbabwe before they moved to Britain. He said: "He was a friend to me. I am shocked at this. I would not encourage this to happen to anyone.
"We worked together in Zimbabwe. He worked in sales for a company. I did not think he would do such a thing.
"The last time I saw him must have been in November.
"I hope this will not give people around here a bad impression of Zimbabwean people."
Published Wednesday May 26, 2004
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