Faeces saga lands stepmother in jail

the next five years.
Kahari, who is a police officer’s wife, had pleaded not guilty to ill-treating the seven-year-old minor when she appeared before Harare magistrate Ms Anita Tshuma.
She was charged with contravening Section 7 of the Children’s Act but Ms Tshuma convicted her due to overwhelming evidence linking her to the offence.
In passing the sentence, Ms Tshuma said excretion is not needed in the human body but Kahari went on to force the minor.
“Judging from her demeanour in court, she did not show any remorse and faeces are human waste meaning that they are things that are not needed in the body.
“She risked making the child sick and the whole experience is disgusting, especially noting the child slept the whole night with faeces in her mouth and face.
“The court considered submissions made and had it not been for the friend and her aunt who testified, the matter would not have come to light.
“Young people are abused daily by people who are supposed to take care of them,” she said.
Ms Tshuma said the sentence has to contain a strong message to would-be offenders.
“Courts are there to protect children and the sentence should send a clear message to would-be offenders, considering that she breached guardianship bestowed on her.
“For the minor to mess blankets, the minor did it out of stress and fear to tell her father, who went on to threaten her during the trial,” Ms Tshuma said. 
In aggravation prosecutor Ms Francisca Mukumbiri said Kahari’s blameworthiness was high.
“The minor looked up to her for motherly love but the juvenile is now traumatised which could affect her for the rest of her life. The child is now at Shalom Children’s Home in Marlborough yet the father is gainfully employed as a police officer,” she said.
Ms Mukumbiri said the State would seek to apply for the father’s arrest since he interfered with investigations and equally abused the minor.
In mitigation Kahari told the court she wanted the court’s mercy as she had two children to take care of.
Ms Mukumbiri proved that on an unknown day, the minor soiled her blankets before Kahari forced her to eat the faeces. A neighbour saw the minor’s mouth full of faeces before she took her and washed her.
Kahari was also assaulting and failing to give her enough food and resultantly the minor was getting food from neighbours, including one Mavis Munhenga.
Kahari confronted Munhenga on why she was giving the minor food.
The minor told Munhenga that Kahari pinched her all over the body and also failed to take the minor to school on numerous occasions.
Kahari was arrested after an anonymous note was dropped in a police suggestion box.