A 56-YEAR-OLD MAN from Bulawayo has been sentenced to nine months in prison for bashing his stepdaughter (12) with a burning log and assaulting her with a sjambok for refusing to be a sex worker.

Joseph Mangwende from Tshabalala suburb connived with the girl’s biological mother to hire the minor out for sex with a significantly older man for $100.

The couple, the court heard, told the girl she had to earn her keep and repay money that they had “wasted” on her school fees.
Mangwende went ballistic when the girl refused to have sex with the man identified in court only as Mpumelelo.

He grabbed a log from a fireplace and hit his stepdaughter on her arm and she sustained serious burns.
Mangwende pleaded guilty to an ill-treatment of a young person charge before Western Commonage magistrate Ms Tancy Dube.

He was sentenced to an effective nine months in prison.
Mangwende and his wife demanded money from the minor claiming that they had wasted it on her school fees when they had other financial obligations to take care of.

For the State, Mr Tapiwa Solani said Mangwende assaulted the minor in February this year.

“In a date unknown to the prosecutor, but during the month of February, Mangwende burnt his stepdaughter with on her right arm and assaulted her with a sjambok several times,” he said.

“On 12 of February this year, the complainant approached a female Childline Social worker Blessing Masola and told her about the ordeal.”

The minor testified in court that her biological mother was angry with her because her biological father was imprisoned when she reported him to the police for raping her.

“Sometime in 2014, I was raped by my biological father and he got arrested in 2015. After that we moved into a new home after my mother got remarried. Since then I have experienced a lot of hardships from both of my parents.

My mother stopped paying for my fees, blaming me for putting my biological father in jail,” she said.

“My parents sometimes look for men to sleep with me for money. My stepdad doesn’t even want me at his home as he always beats me up for no reason.”

chronicle