A 37-YEAR OLD primary school teacher from Mudzi in Mashonaland East Province has been jailed for five years for illegally drawing blood from 21 pupils for unknown reasons.
CHARLES LAITON SENIOR COURT REPORTER
Caroline Zhuwau was last week slapped with a five-year jail term by High Court judge Justice Joseph Musakwa.
The court heard that Zhuwau drew blood from pupils at Musau and Singa primary schools where she served as a temporary teacher between January and September last year.
All the 21 pupils told the court that Zhuwau would call them separately into her classroom on different dates at break time where she would ask them to stand in a queue as she pricked each of them with a needle drawing blood from their fingers and shoulders.
After drawing the blood, the court heard, Zhuwau would store the blood in bottles and threaten the pupils with assault and death if they reported the incidents to their parents.
However, Zhuwau’s luck ran out on September 19 last year when one of her victims was tasked to open a cattle pen, but failed to do so due to pain on his fingers.
Upon being quizzed over what had happened to his fingers, the boy told his sister that Zhuwau had pricked and extracted blood from his fingers.
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The matter was then reported to the police, leading to Zhuwau’s arrest. The other children then opened up and filed separate reports to the police.
Initially, Zhuwau appeared before a Mutoko magistrate facing 21 counts of contravening Section 19 (1) (a) of the Anatomical Donations and Post-Mortem Examinations Act, which criminalises removing tissue from the bodies of living persons or alternatively 21 counts of assault.
She was, however, convicted on 21 counts of assault, but the magistrate could not sentence her due to lack of jurisdiction and the matter was referred to the High Court for sentence.
Zhuwau was eventually sentenced to five years, but immediately made an application seeking leave to appeal against both conviction and sentence.
The matter was last week heard by Justice Joseph Martin Mafusire who despite conceding that Zhuwau had no prospects of success on appeal, nonetheless granted her $200 bail pending appeal.
Zhuwau was represented by Monalisa Ushe while the State was represented by Sharon Fero.
