Maid imprisoned for stabbing rapist gardener in self-defence freed on bail pending appeal
Last week High Court judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi granted bail to visually impaired Benhildah Dandajena (31). Dandajena was released on her own recognisance after convincing arguments from lawyer Ms Mildred Mubaiwa from the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association.
Dandajena had been sentenced to one and half years in prison for culpable homicide after she stabbed a gardener who was trying to rape her. She pleaded guilty to the murder charge when she appeared before Magistrate Lucy Mungwari, telling the court she did not intentionally kill the victim but stabbed him in self-defence.
She is now appealing against both conviction and sentence. In her application, her lawyer Mildred Mubaiwa argued:
Applicant contends that the court a quo erred in finding that the deceased had no weapon on him and yet in matters of sexual assault of a woman, the male anatomy and physiology is in effect a weapon of attack, therefore, the court erred in taking a superficial approach.
More: Herald
