MASVINGO — A hunger-stricken Bikita woman fed her three starving children on treated maize seed, killing them instantly, a Masvingo magistrate heard last week.
Report by Tatenda Chitagu
Fungai Tafirenyika (37) from Chief Mabika in Bikita, was lucky to escape jail after magistrate Esther Muremba sentenced her to a wholly suspended five-year jail term on her own plea of guilty to culpable homicide.
The court noted that even though she had committed a heinous crime, the woman deserved a lenient sentence since she did not intentionally kill her children, but fed them on treated maize seed out of desperation. Muremba said Tafirenyika was not receiving any material support from her husband, hence her decision to feed the children on roasted treated maize seed.
State counsel Sophia Busvumani told the court that in December 2002, Tafirenyika washed treated maize seed and dried it before feeding her three sons, George(4), Trust(4) and Kefasi Muishi (7) after she had run out of food.
The children died of food poisoning.
Tafirenyika told the court in mitigation that her husband had abandoned his family and she had nowhere to turn to for food. The husband only turned up at the burial of the children after having been away from home for a year.
