A HARARE man who assaulted his wife with a garden fork was yesterday sentenced to 24 months in prison after he was convicted of contravening the Domestic Violence Act.
PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI
Magistrate Anita Tshuma, however, suspended four months of the sentence for five years before bringing into effect another three months that had been suspended in a previous conviction for a similar offence in March last year.
Edison Mandizha (32) will now serve an effective 23 months in jail.
In her ruling, magistrate Tshuma said a non–custodial sentence would not suffice as it would not help the accused person to reform.
Prosecutor Sharon Mashavira told the court during trial that on September 8 this year, the complainant, Gloria Muleya (26), who is the accused person’s wife, came home after 7 o’clock in the evening.
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The accused, who was drunk, then started verbally abusing his wife calling her a prostitute. He alleged that his wife, with whom he has two children, was having an extra–marital affair with her uncle.
The verbal abuse occurred while their two children were watching. Mandizha then used metal plates to strike his wife in the head and kicked her all over the body with booted feet.
He then ordered his victim to bring him some water. Muleya took the opportunity to escape and went to report the assault to the police, leading to the husband’s arrest.
In an earlier incident on August 16, the court heard, Mandizha had also assaulted his wife using a garden fork and she sustained a broken wrist.
She, however, did not report the incident to the police because she said she feared her husband would kill her.
When she went to receive treatment at Parirenyatwa Hospital, she lied to the doctors that the injury was a result of a fall.