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Sharon Buwerimwe, Court Reporter

A WOMAN from Bulawayo has been sentenced to an effective six months in prison for assaulting and ordering her son’s girlfriend to walk naked on the street after she found the two lovers in the schoolboy’s bedroom.

The woman from Cowdray Park suburb, whose identity has been withheld to protect the identities of the 17-year-old minors, assaulted the girl with a wooden stick and she sustained injuries on her forehead and left knee.

The woman pleaded guilty to an assault charge before West Commonage magistrate, Ms Tancy Dube.

The magistrate sentenced her to nine months in jail and suspended three months on condition that she does not commit a similar offence within the next three years. 

The woman said she was angry when she attacked the girl.

“I was angry and I failed to control myself because of her stubbornness. I wanted her to give me her parents’ contact details,” she said.

Prosecuting, Ms Thembeni Mpofu said the incident occurred on August 29 this year at around 11AM.

“She saw the girl inside her son’s bedroom through the window and demanded his son to unlock the door while holding a wooden stick,” she said.

“As the girl was trying to flee, she dragged and attacked her with a wooden stick several times all over her body naked.”

The girl testified that she was doing her school extra lessons when the woman’s son invited her home.

“My boyfriend sent me a message on WhatsApp to pay him a visit at his place of residence. When I arrived I sat in his bedroom. At around 11AM, his mother came and opened the window asking her son to unlock the door for her,” she said.

“My boyfriend instructed me to flee through the back yard, unfortunately his mother followed me and attacked me.”

She said the woman dragged her to her neighbour’s house where she stripped her naked and ordered her to walk on the streets.

“She tore my jeans and I lost my phone during the incident as she continued assaulting me,” she said.

The prosecutor said the girl was given clothes by Good Samaritans in Cowdray Park after they saw her walking naked and crying.

The matter was reported to the police leading to the woman’s arrest.—@sharonbuwe