Tinotenda
Purumero, 16, was receiving specialist medical care at the hospital while
waiting to be taken to a children’s home.
His father
Herbert Purumero, 45, and his step mother, Memory Kamuchato, 40, starved
Tinotenda to such an extent that he ended up feeding up on anything he came
across in the room, including his human waste.
This resulted
in him suffering from malnutrition.
The two locked
Tinotenda inside their house in St Mary’s, when he was 14, and his plight was
only known to neighbours when he was 16.
Herbert and
Memory were arrested.
Chitungwiza
Magistrate Dennis Mangosi sentenced them to 24 months in prison.
Four months
were suspended on condition of good behaviour. It remains to be seen if the
same court is going to review the charges against this heartless couple
following Tinotenda’s death.
Initially, the
couple was charged with ill-treating the teenager.
But, given he
died after such ill-treatment, chances are high their case could be reviewed to
either murder or culpable homicide depending on circumstances.
Chitungwiza
Central Hospital public relations officer, Audrey Tasaranarwo, confirmed
Tinotenda’s death.
“The boy was
still admitted at our hospital and he died on the 17th of this month,” she
said.
She did not
give further details.
Herbert is the
biological father of Tinotenda while Memory is his step-mother and they were
staying at House Number 907 in St Mary’s.
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.
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 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 has learning difficulties.
Their shameless
acts affected the teenager’s mental, moral and physiological well-being.
A visit to the
couple’s house, the scene of the crime, showed that his sister was taken by a
relative, who stays in Epworth.
“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,” a
neighbour told H-Metro.
“There wasn’t
any care home which was prepared to take him during that time.”
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 at her house for 14 years. Now, Herbert
and his wife Memory have joined this Hall of Shame.
This case
resonates well with 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 had turned down his love proposal. H Metro
0 comments:
Post a Comment