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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Index of articles surrounding the debate of the Domestic Violence Bill
GCN
concerns about the penalty provisions in the Domestic Violence Bill
Girl
Child Network (GCN)
September 21, 2006
View
the index of articles on the debate around the Domestic Violence
Bill
Section sixteen
of the domestic
violence bill provides that any person found guilty of an offence
of domestic violence other than emotional, verbal or psychological
abuse and economic abuse shall be guilty of an offence and will
be liable to a fine not exceeding level fourteen or to imprisonment
for a period not exceeding ten years or both such fine and such
imprisonment.
I feel that
the penalty provision of a fine to be imposed on a perpetrator of
domestic violence is too lenient and is not going to deter the perpetrators
of domestic violence. My experience is that the judiciary has in
most cases opted to impose sentences of a fine in cases of domestic
violence. What we should bear in mind is that most of the offences
that are going to be committed under this bill such as pledging
of female persons, forced virginity testing, assaults and/ indecent
assault etc, they fall within the jurisdiction of provincial magistrates
courts. With the exception of cases where the domestic violence
that classified as rape that falls under the jurisdiction of a regional
magistrate or were the end result will be murder a judge at the
high court will deal with such a matter.
The monetary
value of level fourteen amounts to $25 000 .In terms of jurisdiction
of a junior magistrate who is going to handle many of the cases
which follow under domestic violence has a limited jurisdiction
of up to level seven which is only $4 000.A senior magistrate has
a limited jurisdiction of up to level nine which is $7 500,a provincial
magistrate has a limited, jurisdiction of up to level ten which
is $10 000 and finally a regional magistrate has a limited jurisdiction
of up to level twelve. Although the law provides for a magistrate
to apply for special increased jurisdiction in sentencing were he
or she deems it feet in order for a sentence to meet the justice
of the case .The truth is, this is rarely practiced on the ground
which means that most cases of domestic violence which will not
end up as murder cases or rape cases will be dealt with at provincial
level and yet a provincial magistrate has a limited jurisdiction
of $10 000.Furthermore, provincial magistrates rarely preside over
such cases because the reality on the ground is that most of the
cases of domestic violence are dealt with by junior magistrates
who have a limited jurisdiction to impose a fine not exceeding $4
000.
To emphasise
my point, the picture below is of a woman who was severely physically
assaulted by her husband and was left for dead, bleeding profusely.
When the matter was brought before a junior magistrate, her husband
was ordered to pay a fine of $1 000.
If we are serious
about curbing the scourge of domestic violence and protect women
and children such lenient penalties should redressed and more deterrent
ones should be put in place for the society to have confidence in
our justice delivery system. A clear and unequivocal message should
be sent to the society that domestic violence (in whatever form)
is a very serious offence indistinguishable from murder or rape.
Considering the hyperinflationary environment obtaining in Zimbabwe
imposing a fine of $4 000 takes away the gravity of such cases as
the money loses value in no time but the physical and psychological
pain continue unabated. What we are just striving to put across
is that the psychological and emotional trauma that a person goes
through when he/she is intimidated, harassed or stalked can never
be justified by imposing a sentence of a fine.
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