Online Reporter
Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Reporter
A YEOVIL woman who burnt her nine-year-old stepdaughter’s palms with melting plastic, and assaulted her with electrical cables, has been slapped with a six-month jail term by a Mutare magistrate.
Precious Mudzinganyama (29) will, however, perform community service after her jail term was suspended on condition that she does 350 hours of community service at the Mutare High Court.
Mutare provincial magistrate, Ms Anniah Ndiraya, sentenced the woman after convicting her of ill-treatment or neglect of children and young persons under Section 7(1) as read with Section 57(5) of the Children’s Act.
Prosecuting was Mr Thurstone Mubvumbi.
The matter attracted strong public outrage in September when it emerged that the minor went to school with severe burns, scars and bruises inflicted over time.
In sentencing Mudzinganyama, Ms Ndiraya described the abuse as cruel, degrading and completely unjustifiable.
However, she suspended the entire six-month custodial sentence on condition that Mudzinganyama completes the community service without default.
The court considered that she was a first offender, and that she had a young child under her care.
She was warned that failure to complete the community service will result in her immediate imprisonment.
The court heard that on September 27, at their home in Yeovil, the minor assaulted Mudzinganyama’s son after he had provoked her.
“Mudzinganyama was angered by what her stepdaughter had done, and burnt her hands with hot melting plastics. She also assaulted her with electrical cables several times on her back, legs and arms,” said Mr Mubvumbi.
The horrific abuse only came to light after the victim reported the matter to staff members at Mutare Adventist Primary School, where she was enrolled before being transferred for her safety.
“On September 29, the minor went to school and told her school head, Mrs Joice Tapfumanei about the incident. The school head reported the matter to ZRP Mutare Central Victim Friendly Unit, and the minor was escorted to a place of safety before being referred to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital for medical examinations,” said Mr Mubvumbi.
He further said the child suffered both physical and emotional harm, and that the abuse was sustained, not a single incident.
He argued that the offence deserved a punishment that would send a strong message to the community.
In an interview last week, the minor said: “I would sometimes go to school wearing long-sleeved clothing to hide fresh wounds.
On one occasion, I bled from cuts inflicted by my stepmother’s using building nails while my father watched.”
Even in court, the girl’s father maintained that his daughter was stubborn.
