Three months in the slammer for nearly scalding lover’s penis
Having spent the festive holidays a free woman, 34-year-old Tebagano Masia could not escape her fate this Monday.
Convicted of unlawful wounding by Maun Magistrate Court back in November, Masia will spend the next three months of her life in the slammer.
This was the punishment handed down to her after she was found guilty of scalding her then-boyfriend Boikuelo Mokgethi with boiling cooking oil on 19 November 2020.
Masia cruelly poured the red hot substance over her baby daddy’s midriff, missing the sleeping man’s penis by an inch.
The 40-year-old sustained secondary degree burns to his chest and thighs in the cowardly late night attack.
Masia’s anger was fuelled by Mokgethi’s refusal to withdraw a case of malicious damage to property, which he lodged against her after she allegedly vandalized his car on three occasions.
When passing sentence this week, Magistrate Kgoadi said, “I have taken into account that the accused person is a 35-year-old single mother of three children who are going to suffer if their mother is sent to prison.
“I have also noted that she is a first offender whose judgment at the time of the commission of the offence was clouded by the abuse which took place during the course of their relationship.”
The Magistrate further admitted it had proved difficult to find a suitable punishment that would rehabilitate Masia without prejudicing her innocent children.
“The fact that she is a woman does not warrant a lesser sentence as opposed to man. This was a crime of passion caused by a friction between the two partners,” continued Kgoadi, further pointing out that throughout the trial Masia had shown no remorse but instead had repeatedly tried to justify her actions.
Despite this, and although unlawful wounding carries a possible seven-year prison sentence, the Magistrate chose a relatively soft punishment. In the end, Masia was given a six-month prison term, with three months wholly suspended for three years. She will be a free woman again by the end of April.
