MAID SENTENCED 5 YEARS

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Posted by admin on October 23, 2025 at 10:10 AM

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A 21-year-old maid from Chilenje Township has been sentenced to five years imprisonment after being found guilty of assaulting an eight-year-old girl with a kitchen knife in what the court described as a reckless and negligent act.

Bathsheba Phiri, appeared before Principal Resident Magistrate Idah Phiri at the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court, where she was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The victim, identified in court as H.C.N, is the daughter of Bathsheba’s employer.

The incident occurred on 30 March 2025, during what was described as a playful interaction gone wrong.

According to prosecution evidence, the child had insisted on playing with the maid, who declined. When the child threw a pillow at her in jest, Bathsheba, irritated and holding a kitchen knife, waved it in the child’s direction, striking her in the face.

Magistrate Phiri ruled that although the act was not premeditated, it was reckless and negligent, resulting in injury to a minor.

“The court takes judicial notice that a knife is an inherently dangerous object capable of causing grievous harm if mishandled,” she said. “Although there was no intention to harm, the accused acted negligently and caused injury to the child.”

The court rejected Bathsheba’s plea for leniency, in which she cited the hardship of being in custody during her advanced pregnancy.

Magistrate Phiri emphasized that the child’s actions were purely playful and unprovocative, and that the adult had a duty to exercise restraint.

“Her conduct amounted to recklessness. She disregarded the obvious risk of injury that could result from handling a dangerous instrument in such a manner,” the magistrate added.

Bathsheba was convicted after the court found all elements of the charge proven beyond reasonable doubt. She will serve her sentence at a correctional facility in Lusaka.