By Bright Zhou
A fight over a client has landed a Masvingo sex worker in prison after Masvingo Magistrate Elizabeth Hanzie on June 4, 2024 sentenced her to 12 months behind bars for striking a fellow sex worker with an empty beer bottle on her face.
In passing her sentence, Hanzie said the accused person, who was being charged with aggravated assault deserved a jail term as it was not her first time committing a similar offence.
The accused person was initially sentenced to 9 months and 3 months were conditionally suspended but had another six months that had been previously suspended from her previous offense giving her a total sentence of 12 months.
It was the state’s case as presented by Isabel Pambuka that on June 2, 2024 Diana Harahwa (21) and the complainant Privilege Sadzahuchi (20) were in Mundondo Nite Club drinking beer.
Sadzahuchi went out and confronted Harahwa telling her to stay away from the barman who worked at Mundondo Nite Club because she had been hired by him for sex services.
The conversation did not end well and Sadzahuchi punched Harahwa with her fists. Harahwa in turn grabbed a beer bottle from one Handsome Gwese and hit Sadzahuchi once on the left cheek, from which she sustained a deep cut.
Sadzahuchi reported the matter to the police the following day and Harahwa was arrested.
Harahwa told the court that the barman was her boyfriend and was shocked when her friend said she had been with him.
“We met at the bar with Sadzahuchi and we always hang around together as friends. The barman is my boyfriend so I was shocked when my friend told me she was hired by my boyfriend.
“The misunderstanding arose when I told her to stay away from my boyfriend, and she punched me. I grabbed a beer bottle from the person who was close to me and hit her with it on her face in self-defense,” said Harahwa.
