Lusaka businesswoman jailed five years for shaving boy’s hair without parents consent

A Lusaka court has sentenced a 23-year-old businesswoman to five years’ imprisonment for assaulting a six-year-old boy by shaving part of his hair with a razor blade without his parents’ consent.

Naomi Chileshe received the mandatory sentence after Resident Magistrate Crispin Hampungani found her guilty of the offence.

Prosecutor Sheria Miselo told the court that the incident occurred when the boy, accompanied by a friend, was lured into Chileshe’s shop under the pretext of receiving sweets.

Instead, she produced a razor blade and began cutting his hair.

The terrified friend fled, leaving the victim behind.

When the child returned home, his parents noticed the uneven haircut and questioned him.

He identified Chileshe as the culprit and later led police to her shop, where he pointed her out during an identification parade of 11 people.

Medical evidence confirmed the assault, showing that the right side of the boy’s head had been shaved.

Several prosecution witnesses, including children, corroborated his account.

Magistrate Hampungani dismissed Chileshe’s claim that the boy’s hair was already cut when he arrived, calling it “an afterthought without merit.”

He ruled the act was deliberate, unlawful, and carried out for reasons known only to her.

Although Chileshe, a first offender and mother of a young child, expressed remorse and pleaded for leniency, the court stressed the seriousness of the offence.

“To help you reform,” Magistrate Hampungani said, “I sentence you to five years’ imprisonment effective today.”

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