Herbert
Purumero (45), and his wife Memory Kamuchato (40), starved Tinotenda Purumero
(16) to such an extent that he ended up feeding up on anything he saw in the
room, including his human waste.
This resulted
in him suffering from malnutrition.
They locked him
in a room at their house in St Mary’s.
Herbert is the
biological father of Tinotenda while Memory is his step-mother.They reside at
house number 907 in St Mary’s.
It’s the latest
bizarre case, of a similar nature, to come out of Chitungwiza.
Three years
ago, H-Metro broke the exclusive story that Gogo Plaxedes Mashasha had been
keeping his son, Grant, in the ceiling for 14 years.
Now, Herbert
and his wife Memory have joined this hall of shame.
Herbert
separated from Tinotenda’s mother, who has since remarried.
Tinotenda ended
up suffering from extensive malnutrition and severe bruises on his body suggest
that he was being assaulted on numerous occasions.
The couple, who
were arrested, appeared before magistrate Dennis Mangosi who sentenced them to
24 months in prison.
Four months
were suspended on condition of good behaviour and they will each serve an
effective 20 months for the ill-treatment of Tinotenda.
The teenage boy
is currently admitted at a local hospital and he is set to be taken to a care
home.
Prosecutor
Shamiso Charmaine Mwapangira told the court that from May 2022, the two locked
the teenage boy in a very dirty room and denied him access to free movement.
They even
denied him access to health care even after noticing that his health was
deteriorating.
Most of the
time, said the State, the complainant was left in the custody of his 23
year-old sister Paidamoyo Purumero, who is a slow learner.
Their devilish
acts affected the teenager’s mental, moral and physiological well-being.
The couple was
charged with ill-treatment or neglecting of children and young persons as
defined in Section 7 (1) of the Children’s Act Chapter 06.
An H-Metro crew
managed to visit the couple’s house, the scene of the crime, there was no one
at the house.
Tinotenda’s
sister was taken by a relative who stays in Epworth.
Other tenants
had gone to work.
However, some
neighbours were prepared to speak on condition their identity was not revealed.
“Tinotenda was
once released from hospital after showing signs of recovering but, however,
there was nobody at home resulting in them taking him back to the hospital
where he is receiving care.
“We heard that
they have not yet found a Children’s Care Home that is willing to take him,”
said one of the neighbours.
This case is
similar to the one of Gogo Mashasha, who locked up her son Grant Mashasha, in
their ceiling for 14 years.
Grant ended up
developing long nails, pale skin and was unable to communicate well with other
people when he was eventually freed from his ordeal.
His case only
came to light when it was established that Gogo Mashasha had been living with
the corpse of her husband for five days.
The corpse was
in a decomposing state when authorities arrived to deal with the bizarre cases
at this Zengeza home.
In yet another
related case in Zengeza, a woman was locked in the family house for three
years.
Talent Gent’s
grandmother, Gogo Mushore (71) had kept
her locked up in the house saying there was a rogue man in the neighbourhood
who wanted to abduct her because she turned down his love proposal. H Metro
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