Emily Nyathi (35), of Number 8, Plummer Road, North End, was convicted on her own plea of guilty to physical abuse as defined by Section 3 (1) (a) of the Domestic Violence Act, when she appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Abednico Dube.

Her sentence was wholly suspended on condition she completes 105 hours of community service at Tredgold Building.Asked by the magistrate why she assaulted him, Nyathi said she was under the influence of alcohol.

In her mitigation, she said she had three children and was the breadwinner who survives on cross-border trading.Charges against her were that on 29 March, at about 9.30pm, the complainant, Mr Tauya Mare, who is her former boyfriend, was drinking beer with friends at a city hotel.

Nyathi was also drinking from the same spot.She approached Mr Mare and asked him to buy her a beer, but he turned her down, saying he did not have money.

Nyathi became angry and slapped him once on the cheek.Mr Mare tried to retaliate, but was restrained by his friends and they left the hotel going home.

However, Nyathi pursued them outside and insulted him, but he ignored her.She returned to the hotel and armed herself with an empty beer bottle.

When she returned she caught up with Mr Mare and his friends at the corner of Herbert Chitepo Street and 8th Avenue.She then broke the bottle and stabbed him once on the cheek and went away.