Teacher harvests blood from pupils

A primary school teacher from Mudzi, who was jailed for five years for unlawfully drawing blood from 21 pupils for unknown reasons, will now serve her prison term after the Supreme Court threw out her appeal.

According to online media reports, Caroline Zhuwau (39) drew blood from pupils at Musau and Singa primary schools, where she served as a temporary teacher between January and September 2013. She pricked the pupils using a needle before storing the blood samples in some plastic containers.

All the 21 pupils told the court that Zhuwau would call them separately into her classroom on different dates at break time where she would ask them to stand in a queue as she pricked each of them with a needle, drawing blood from their fingers and shoulders.

The High Court last year sentenced Zhuwau to five years in prison. Three years were conditionally set aside, leaving the woman to serve an effective two-year prison term.