Shumirai Zhou
ZVISHAVANE – A 30-year-old woman residing at House Number 84, Mandava, was last week convicted for pouring hot water on her niece but was freed from the prospect of jail by the Zvishavane Magistrate Court.
Mtandazo Dube had pleaded guilty to charges of assault as defined in Section 89(1) (a) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23 when she appeared before Magistrate Shepherd Mnjanja.
The magistrate, however, commuted Dube’s prison sentence to community service after considerations that she was nursing her 10-months-old baby and after the victim had pleaded that she be set free.
Mjanja identified Dube as a heartless woman who could have served the jail term had it not been for the given considerations.
She will therefore have to perform 12 weeks of community service at Gresham High School to make up for the 12 months imprisonment that still remained after Mnjanja had suspended three months of the prison term on condition that she does not commit a similar offence over the next three years.
Prosecutor Monica Mungwena told the court that on May 5, 2017 at around 19:00 hrs, the accused and her niece Grace Muturure (16), who is a form three pupil at Zvishavane High School, were involved in a heated argument over alleged gossip on the part of Dube.
It was heard that due to anger, Dube took a tin of boiling water and emptied it onto the complainant’s body.
The victim sustained severe blisters all over her body and was carried to Zvishavane District hospital before the arrest of Dube.local
