Lilongwe First Grade Magistrate court has convicted and sentenced a 28 year-old mother to 4 years imprisonment for burning her 6-year-old daughter’s private parts, torturing, tying and locking her up in a house at Mtandire.
Sub Inspector Christopher Nyirongo of Lingadzi Police identified the woman as Apatsa Makondetsa, 28, who comittited the offence on 3 October 2024.
Nyirongo told the court that the convict burnt her daughter’s hands, whipped her severely for simply wetting her bed and eating relish.
The convict then warned the victim against revealing her ordeal to neighbors if asked as a result of injuries she sustained, but to tell people that she fell down from a witchcraft plane.
Appearing in court, Apatsa pleaded guilty to the charge of Acts Intended to Cause Grievous Harm.
In mitigation, the convict asked the court for leniency saying, she is a first time offender, and that she has children to take care of.
In submission, Prosecutor Nyirongo asked the court for a stiffer punishment saying, what the convict did to her own biological daughter was inhumane, and subjected her to emotional trauma.
Passing his sentence, First Grade Magistrate Shukran Phiri, concurred with the State, and went on to sentence the convict to fifty months imprisonment with hard labor to set as a deterrent to other would be offenders.
