Confronted for cheating, man batters wife, throws her clothes out of the house

Danisa Masuku

A WOMAN who has been branded a prostitute and bashed almost every day by her husband for quizzing him about his extra-marital affairs has dragged her abusive husband to court.

Juliet Ringisai from How Mine on the outskirts of Bulawayo said her marital life took a nasty turn after her husband Wellington Ruvengo started to cheat on her.

She said upon discovering her husband’s cheating shenanigans she confronted him and quizzed him. But she never knew that her husband would silence her by turning her into a punching bag whenever he was from a boozy night out.

Ruvengo, the court heard, would brand his wife a prostitute but Ringisai refuted the allegations levelled against her and stated that her husband fabricated the lies to find a way to beat him.

Ringisai said whenever they were involved in an argument in a fit of anger her husband throws her clothes out of the house. She also told the court that she has tried to engage him to solve the problem but her husband does not want to. Seeing that there was no solution in sight she applied for a protection order at Bulawayo civil court.

In her affidavit which read in part she said: “I’m the applicant in this matter. Wellington Ruvengo is my husband. We have three children together. My marriage was a happy affair but things took a turn for the worst after I discovered that he was cheating on me with a number of women. I then confronted him and he got angry. From that time my life has been subjected to bashing and insults. He also fabricated a lie that I was cheating on him so as to find an excuse to physically and verbally abuse me. At times he does not buy food.”

On the other hand, Ruvengo denied the accusations levelled against him: “She is lying. I never assaulted her or cheated on her. There is a case in court against her for assaulting me.”

The presiding magistrate, Challenge Mahembe, however, granted Ringisai a protection order against her husband. The respondent was ordered not to physically and verbally abuse the applicant. The order is valid for five years.