HARARE – A housemaid was jailed for three years on Wednesday after she was convicted of the attempted murder of her employer’s two-year-old daughter.
Tesla Nyengerai hit the tot with a stone in Eastview, Harare, rendering her unconscious.
The Harare Magistrates Court heard Nyengerai was previously jailed for two years after almost killing another toddler in Chitungwiza, where she worked previously. She was released in 2020 as a beneficiary of a presidential pardon.
Harare magistrate Noticia Shanje said Nyengerai was “unrepentant and a danger to the society” as she sentenced her to one year in prison. She also added her previous two-year sentence because Nyengerai breached the terms of her parole release – that she would not commit a similar offence within five years.
The National Prosecuting Authority proved that on February 15 this year, Nyengerai was left at home minding her employer’s two-year-old daughter.
“The victim’s mother went to the fields and came back around lunch time,” said Hazvinei Chiota-Rukande, prosecuting.
When she was about to get home, she met her young son who told her Nyengerai had attacked his sibling with stones, leaving her unconscious.
Nyengerai had fled from the scene but was later apprehended.
Prosecutors said the toddler was rushed to hospital and police were called.
