A 48-YEAR-OLD traditional healer who inserted a sharpened stick in a teenager’s private parts stashing herbs and in the process successfully aborted a four-month-old pregnancy was yesterday slapped with a nine-month jail term by Marondera magistrate Josephine Sande.
By Jairos Saunyama
William Mapati, a Zinatha-registered herbalist based at Gumbeze Farm in Marondera, and the 17-year-old juvenile who was pregnant were both convicted after pleading guilty to conducting an illegal abortion.
Mapati will serve an effective six-month jail term after three months were suspended on condition of good behaviour while the girl was given a wholly suspended sentence because of her being a juvenile.
According to court papers, on October 1 this year, at around 0800hrs, the girl approached Mapati asking him to assist her in terminating her pregnancy. Mapati agreed and charged the teenager $20 for the job.
Mapati then gave the girl some powdered herbs and instructed her to apply them on her private parts and ordered her to remove her panties while lying on her back.
The girl complied and Mapati inserted a stick sharpened on the edge into the girl’s private parts.
After that, the traditional healer gave the girl two sachets of powdered herbs and told her that one of the sachets was a pain killer while the other one was to clean her uterus.
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The following day, at around 2pm the foetus came out of the girl’s womb and was buried in the ground in a bid to conceal the matter.
However, acting on a tip-off from the juvenile’s friends, police recovered the foetus leading to the arrest of the two.
Tafara Chirambira represented the state.
