4 years for scalding hubby with boiling cooking oil

4 years for scalding hubby with boiling cooking oil

• Zim man scalded with hot cooking oil in Luton

• Zim student in UK credit card fraud

By Mduduzi Mathuthu

A ZIMBABWEAN woman who scalded her sleeping boyfriend with boiling cooking oil because she could not bear rejection was starting a four-year jail term in the UK last Friday.

Evil Bianca Chikanya, 22, who lives in Luton, England, also stabbed dad of one, Constantine Chikamba, as he lay writhing in agony.

Luton Crown Court Recorder Elizabeth Roscoe told Chikanya before sentencing: "These were very serious horrific injuries and the effect on him is likely to be lifelong. He was in bed, unclothed and defenceless when you threw that oil."

As exclusively revealed on New Zimbabwe.com last year, Chikamba, a 22-year-old much-sought-after carpenter who was enjoying a happy life suffered serious burns on his face and body, so extensive that his own son is scared of him, the court was told.

Chikanya pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

State prosecutors say the couple had been involved in a relationship which Chikamba had tried to end in 2002. Chikamba was married at the time and lived with his wife.

"She would not accept it and went to his home and told his wife about their affair. This led to problems with his marriage and he moved out," prosecutor Ebraham Mooncey told the court.

"The relationship began again, and he moved into a flat in Russell Rise, but made it clear he wanted to live there alone.

"During the following months she told him she wanted to be with him forever and if she couldn't she would kill herself.

"One day he found she had moved her clothes and belongings in to his flat saying she had been kicked out of her home."

"On September 12 last year, Chikanya was very quiet. In the evening she started an argument and said she was going to kill him.

"He decided to make himself scarce. He returned after midnight and the house was in darkness and he could not find her.

"When he was in bed he heard noises and found her lying under his bed. He pretended to be nice to her to keep her calm and she got into bed and he gave her a cuddle.

"Then he woke to find her saying: 'Costa I am burning you now.' She was standing by the bed with a saucepan and she pulled the covers back and threw
the oil over him.

"He jumped up but slipped in the oil on the floor and at that stage he thought he was dying. She came back in the room holding a knife and stabbed him.

"It wounded him but not seriously as it struck a bone and bent. He tried to use the phone but it had been unplugged. Eventually she called 999 and the operator could hear his screams of pain."

Mooncey told the court that when police and ambulance crews arrived, Chikanya had taken an overdose of pills.

Chitamba subsequently spent three months at a specialist burns unit in
Chelmsford with serious burns to his face, neck, chest and upper limbs. He had to wear pressure garments and a face mask for 22 hours a day, and needed help with all his basic activities.

In mitigation, Bart Casella, defending, said Chikanya had a tragic upbringing in Zimbabwe and had never known her father. She had previously attempted suicide several times.
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