MBABANE – A 36-year-old woman will spend the next three years in prison after she was convicted of insulting another woman via WhatsApp, labelling her “HIV positive.”
Tengetile Dlamini, from Mbabane, was sentenced on Tuesday by the Magistrates Court after being found guilty of violating the Cyber Crime and Computer Crimes Act of 2022.
The conviction stems from a message she sent earlier this year during a heated exchange with the complainant, in which she accused the woman of being HIV positive. According to court records, the accused told the court she acted impulsively after allegedly seeing antiretroviral medication in the other woman’s possession.
Her legal team pleaded for leniency, saying the message was sent in the heat of the moment and that Dlamini had shown remorse. However, the court ruled that her actions constituted a breach of the cybercrime law, which prohibits sending offensive or harmful content through digital platforms.
Magistrate Sabelo Mngomezulu ruled that Dlamini serve three years in prison or pay a fine of E3,000. The complainant told the court that the message had subjected her to public ridicule and emotional distress.
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