A 48 year old abusive man escaped effective imprisonment and walked out a free man after being convicted of physically abusing his wife and parading his manhood in front of his two daughters.
Ishmael Musonza of Queendale Harare last week pleaded guilty to domestic violence and public indecency when he appeared before Harare magistrate Gamuchirai Siwardi.
Musonza was slapped with a 10 year jail term for violence, but spared from doing time in jail after four months were suspended on conditions of good behaviour. For the remaining six months, he was ordered to perform hours of community service at Hatfield Police Station.
Musonza was further slapped with a $50 fine for exposing his manhood in front of his two daughters aged 10 and 15 years respectively.
According to prosecutor Mwanza Safuri, Musonza’s abusive behavior against his family started a long time ago, but reached peak sometime in May last year. The court heard that during the month in question, Musonza forced his wife to soak herself while dressed in the bath tub. After that, he ordered her to keep standing throughout the night to dry up.
In May this year, the court heard that Musonza urinated on his wife and forced her to crawl to mop and dry up the flowing urine in the passage while his children watched.
As if this was not enough, the court heard that between the period extendingMay to July this year and on different occasions, Musonza entered his daughter’s bedroom dressed only in T-Shirt and at some point walked in the house naked, exposing his manhood to his daughters. The court also heard that on July 1 this year, Musonza forced his wife and children to spend the night outside the house after being angered by his wife’s refusal to buy him beer.
