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Mashudu Netsianda Senior Reporter
A BULAWAYO man ran amok brutally assaulting his wife and their four-year-old son and smashed window panes of his house following a domestic feud before reportedly committing suicide by hanging.
However, mystery surrounds the death of the man identified as Thamsanqa Ngwenya, 31, of Entumbane after he was found loosely hanging from the tree in his neighbourhood.
Ngwenya’s body was discovered by passersby at midnight on Saturday. He was under the trees on his knees with a bed sheet around his neck, raising suspicion that the man could have been murdered.
However, police said they were investigating a case of suicide but his family suspects foul play because the tree from which Ngwenya is alleged to have hanged himself, is almost of his height.
Chronicle yesterday visited the victim’s home in Entumbane and spoke to family members.
Ngwenya’s distressed wife, Thulisile Dube, 28, said: “My husband left home on Saturday at about 9AM to collect some money in town. He then returned later in the evening at about 10PM drunk and started shouting at me as he threw plates and pots at me.
“He grabbed our son and smashed him against the wall and when I tried to restrain him that is when he turned on me and assaulted me.”
Dube said she then phoned Ngwenya’s younger brother, Mxolisi, so that he could try and talk to him.
“When Mxolisi arrived at our home, he tried to talk to my husband but instead he became violent and picked stones and hit me on the back and in the process smashing window panes. Had I ducked, the stone could have hit our eight-month-old daughter who was sleeping on the bed,” said Dube.
Soon after that Ngwenya, who was visibly angry, took a bed sheet and left the bedroom and slept outside.
“He later came back in the middle of the night and banged the door before he stormed in and started causing havoc. Mxolisi again tried to restrain him and he then took the bed sheet and left the house with his younger brother under the guise that they were going to their family home.
“Mxolisi later returned alone and when I asked him where he had left my husband, he told me that they had an argument,” said Dube.
Dube only got to know of her husband’s death the following morning when police came to her house.
When Chronicle news crew arrived at the scene yesterday morning, police had already taken the body to the United Bulawayo Hospitals mortuary for a postmortem.
Ngwenya’s aunt, Ester Masuku, expressed shock following the mysterious death of her nephew.
“This is shocking and I am so devastated. I certainly don’t think my nephew committed suicide given the mysterious circumstances surrounding his so called suicide. In fact, if you check the tree from which he purportedly hanged himself from, you honestly wouldn’t treat this as a suicide.
“The bed sheet that he is said to have used to hang himself was loosely tired around his neck and he was kneeling down, clearly showing that he could have been beaten to death but surprisingly there were no visible wounds,” she said.
“The tree from which he is said to have hanged himself is almost of his height making it utterly impossible for him to hang himself from its branches.”
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo confirmed the incident.
“I can confirm that a man from Entumbane, identified as Thamsanqa Ngwenya, 48, hanged himself from a tree using a bed sheet and investigations are still under way to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the incident,” he said.
Online Reporter