Woman jailed 3 years for wounding a minor

Mangochi Senior Resident Magistrate Court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced Martha Victor, 32, to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour after being found guilty of act intended to cause grievous harm, contrary to section 235 (a) of the Penal Code.

The court heard through state prosecutor that the convict was angered by her stepson who urinated inside the house.

State prosecutor, Sub Inspector Ted Namaona, told the court that on February 15 this year, at Kalonga Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Mponda in the district, the convict smashed a four-year-old child (name withheld) against the wall and beat him using a walking stick, a development which left the child with swollen eyes and hands.

Appearing before Senior Resident Magistrate Muhammad Maxwell Chande, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge leveled against her, and this forced the court to convict Victor upon her own admission and facts presented by the state.

In submission, Namaona said that although the convict is a first offender, she committed a serious offense which attracts life imprisonment as a maximum sentence and also that the behaviour of the convict is uncalled for; hence, prayed for a meaningful sentence to deter other would-be offenders.