Mum tortures son with burning plastic

A woman from Emakhandeni suburb in Bulawayo allegedly tied up her 11-year-old son and struck him with an iron bar several times on the head before burning him all over the body using a burning plastic paper.

The woman was accusing her son of selling her dog.

The blood curdling incident happened on Tuesday at around 8PM.

Nomalanga Maphosa, 29, yesterday appeared before provincial magistrate Willard Maphios Moyo  facing a charge of  ill-treatment /neglect of children and young   persons.

She was not asked to plead and was remanded in custody to today for trial.

Prosecuting Kingston Mkanganwi told the court that Maphosa assaulted her son because he had failed to disclose the whereabouts of the dog.

"She assaulted him after failing to disclose the whereabouts of the dog which disappeared sometime last year and she was accusing him of having sold it," said Mkanganwi.

The court heard that on Tuesday last week around 8PM, Maphosa asked her son about the dog,

After the boy failed to disclose the whereabouts of the dog, she started accusing him of having sold it, the court heard.

Maphosa then allegedly tied the boy's hands and legs with a rope and struck him four times on the head with a metal bar.

The court heard that Maphosa went on to light a plastic paper which she allegedly used to burn the boy all over the body.

The boy sustained some cuts on the head and blisters all over the body as a result of the torture.