‘My whole body is scarred, I need help’

Mercy Ngwebvu
FAILURE to handle incessant assaults from her husband led a Mutare woman to approach the civil courts for a protection order, saying she had scars to show for the brutality she was suffering at her husband’s hands. Marita Karumbidza and Lovemore Nyangani appeared before Mutare magistrate, Mrs Yeukai Chigodora, with the former describing the latter as an abusive husband who took advantage of her femininity to harass her whenever he felt like it.

Said Marita: “I need protection from this court because I am tired of being physically and verbally abused by my husband. Last year I lost my ID card and he said I had given it to my boyfriends in Mozambique. Whenever we have a small misunderstanding, it always ends up with him severely assaulting me and I tell you, my whole body is full of scars that were inflicted on me by the man I call my husband. He does all this because I am a woman and he knows I cannot out power him.

“He also gave my brothers a $2 divorce token, but I cannot leave my matrimonial home because I gave him lots of children and I cannot just leave them. The other thing is that almost everything we have belongs to both of us because we started together and he can’t chase me away just like that.”

The court was, however, shocked when Nyangani was asked to respond because he seemed to be the one who had suffered more from his wife than the picture she was trying to paint.

“This woman is the one who has caused me untold suffering.
“Whenever she goes to Mozambique she spends long periods there and when I try to get explanations from her, I receive thorough hidings. She is very disrespectful and it is not true that I am in the habit of beating her up because I only beat her once.

“The last time we fought, I was only saved by our Grade Five child who held her mother’s hands for me to escape. She was assaulting me with a log. She even bit me. She also threw bricks at me, some of which hit my head. Mbonje dzese idzi kutemwa ndiye. I only gave her a divorce token after she had openly told me in front of police officers that she no longer loved me,” said Nyangani.

Mrs Chigodora granted the order saying the two were to keep peace with each other, adding that a breach of this order would constitute a criminal offence.