News / Regional
Mum 'roasts' son's hands over groundnuts
23 Sep 2014 at 06:15hrs | Views
A STONE-HEARTED woman from Binga allegedly forcibly dipped her three year- old son's hands in a hot pan as punishment for eating shelled groundnuts which she wanted to roast and make peanut butter.
When she appeared in court, Judith Muleya from Sinansengwe area in Siabuwa claimed that when she committed the offence she was under the spell of evil spirits.
Reports of the spine-chilling incident are that on 17 August Muleya together with her husband Recent Mwinde left home to a nearby bushy area to cut thatching grass. They left behind their three-year-old child.
It is reported that the child went into the kitchen hut and started helping himself to the shelled groundnuts. Proved facts were that when Muleya came back after sometime and discovered that her child had eaten the groundnuts, she failed to control her rage and took a frying pan and placed it on the fire.
It is reported that after the pan had turned "red" hot, she took her child and forcibly grabbed his hands before she dipped them for an extended period of time. During the "cooking" the child reportedly screamed for his father to help but unfortunately he was nowhere near the homestead.
When her husband came and discovered the worst case of child abuse, he reported the matter to the police leading to the arrest of Muleya.
After the act the seemingly traumatised child who sustained severe burns on his palms was reportedly sent to Sunrise Children's Home in Binga for rehabilitation.
The mother of four, for the offence, was hauled before Binga resident magistrate Mr Stephen Ndhlovu to answer charges of ill-treating a child as defined in section 7 (1) of the Child's Act Chapter 5:06.
Muleya admitted to having disciplined her child in a brutally excessive manner claiming she was possessed by the evil spirits.
She was however, spared jail agony when the 24 months imprisonment which had been slapped with had its six months suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.
The remaining 18 months imprisonments were further suspended on condition that she performs 630 hours of unpaid service at Sinansengwe Primary School.
When she appeared in court, Judith Muleya from Sinansengwe area in Siabuwa claimed that when she committed the offence she was under the spell of evil spirits.
Reports of the spine-chilling incident are that on 17 August Muleya together with her husband Recent Mwinde left home to a nearby bushy area to cut thatching grass. They left behind their three-year-old child.
It is reported that the child went into the kitchen hut and started helping himself to the shelled groundnuts. Proved facts were that when Muleya came back after sometime and discovered that her child had eaten the groundnuts, she failed to control her rage and took a frying pan and placed it on the fire.
It is reported that after the pan had turned "red" hot, she took her child and forcibly grabbed his hands before she dipped them for an extended period of time. During the "cooking" the child reportedly screamed for his father to help but unfortunately he was nowhere near the homestead.
When her husband came and discovered the worst case of child abuse, he reported the matter to the police leading to the arrest of Muleya.
After the act the seemingly traumatised child who sustained severe burns on his palms was reportedly sent to Sunrise Children's Home in Binga for rehabilitation.
The mother of four, for the offence, was hauled before Binga resident magistrate Mr Stephen Ndhlovu to answer charges of ill-treating a child as defined in section 7 (1) of the Child's Act Chapter 5:06.
Muleya admitted to having disciplined her child in a brutally excessive manner claiming she was possessed by the evil spirits.
She was however, spared jail agony when the 24 months imprisonment which had been slapped with had its six months suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.
The remaining 18 months imprisonments were further suspended on condition that she performs 630 hours of unpaid service at Sinansengwe Primary School.
Source - B-Metro
