A GWERU woman who fatally assaulted her three -year-old
granddaughter using a switch after she messed her clothes heaved a sigh of
relief after she was ordered to perform community service.
Esther Moyo (54) of Coolmoreen Farm, who committed the
offence in 2015, yesterday appeared before Bulawayo High Court judge Justice
Martin Makonese who is on circuit in Gweru.
She pleaded not guilty to murder, but admitted to a lesser
charge of culpable homicide. The State concurred with the plea and Justice
Makonese sentenced her to an effective 420 hours of community service.
In passing judgement, Justice Makonese said he had taken
into consideration delays in dealing with the case as the woman committed the
offence nearly five years ago.
“The child died due
to subdural haematoma, skull fracture and severe head trauma due to beating.
Postmortem shows that you used extreme force.
“This attack was senseless as it was brutal and the young
person suffered a painful death. The courts will not tolerate this kind of
behaviour. Any life whether old or young is important and the courts should
guard against such loss of life,” said Justice Makonese.
“Although the moral blameworthiness is high, the only fact
which saves you is the delay in dealing with this case. A delay in any case is
unacceptable and the court urges the prosecution office to review all pending
cases so that they are dealt with in time. Had
you been sent to jail at that time you might have completed serving. I
agree with the defence that custodial sentence would not make justice after this
delay.”
Prosecutor, Mr Mandla Ndlovu told the court that on March
18 in 2015 at about 6AM, the now deceased Rejoice Moyo and her brother were
asleep when their grandmother woke them up so that they could relieve
themselves.
Rejoice, the court heard, messed her clothes.
“This prompted her grandmother to take a switch that she
used to assault her all over the body. The deceased cried in agony and
continued to wail up to the time when her grandmother went to work,” said Mr
Ndlovu.
He said moments after the grandmother had left for work
Rejoice collapsed and died. The matter was reported to the police leading to
the woman’s arrest. Chronicle
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