By Miriam Mangwaya
A 23-YEAR-OLD woman, who allegedly tried to kill her husband and stepchildren with rat poison after a marital dispute, was on Friday sentenced to five years in prison by a Chivhu regional magistrate.
Aisha Tanaka Machingauta pleaded guilty to attempting to kill her husband, Fanuel Muchineripi (40), his stepdaughter Angeline (9) and son Knowledge (7).
She told regional magistrate Fadzai Mutombeni that she wanted to kill her husband because he had ordered her to leave their matrimonial home at the Chivhu Craft Centre because he was marrying another woman.
Mutombeni suspended two years of her sentence on condition good behaviour.
The court heard that last week on Sunday, Machingauta and Muchineripi had a marital dispute.
The following day at sunset, Machingauta then took rat poison, which she had used to kill rats the previous day, and sprinkled it into a 20-litre drinking water bucket.
She then left the homestead.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Moments later, Angeline fetched water from the bucket intending to prepare a meal.
She then discovered that the water was smelling rat poison and notified her father.
Machingauta returned home later that day and her husband recovered the remaining poison from the jacket she was putting on.
The matter was reported to the police, leading to her arrest.
Mike Choto appeared for the State.
