Online Reporter
Moreblessing Ncube [email protected]
EVEN the “nicest Christians” have a breaking point.
Provoke them until they reach it, and even the devil will flee to the nearest hills to find a cave where he can hide from their wrath.
Don’t take our word for this. Ask Tinashe Masuka, a police officer at Ross Camp, when he has recovered enough to speak, and he’ll give you a life-changing testimony about the dire consequences of pushing the boundaries of tolerance with ‘‘nice people’’.
His ex-wife, Charity Chirongonoro (32), clobbered him senseless with a knobkerrie after he allegedly repeatedly disturbed her midnight prayers and accused her aunt of being a witch. Testing the elasticity of her tolerance in one instance, the cop allegedly poured beer on the ‘‘‘prayer warrior’’. Chirongonoro was dragged to court this week, facing assault charges after she allegedly unleashed a ‘‘holy rage’’ on her ex-husband, Tinashe Masuka, striking him in the face and chin with a traditional knobkerrie.
The court heard how Chirongonoro finally snapped in the early hours of 1 June, just after 2am, following days of escalating tension inside the officers’ compound at Ross Camp. Prosecutor Joseph Rugara told the court that it all began when Masuka walked into the house and accused Chirongonoro’s visiting aunt of being a witch. That accusation reportedly triggered a verbal war, which quickly turned physical.
“Chirongonoro went into the bedroom, came back armed with a knobkerrie, and smacked the complainant twice on the face and once on the chin,” Rugara said. Masuka suffered bruises and had to be rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital for treatment.
However, the knobkerrie incident was just the climax of a series of bizarre confrontations.
The housemaid, who witnessed the chaos, told police that just days before the assault, on May 28, Masuka had stormed the home around midnight and found his ex deep in prayer. Allegedly enraged by her spiritual routine, he ordered her to stop. Unfazed, Chirongonoro shifted her prayer session to the kitchen, where the two awkwardly spent the rest of the night in simmering silence.
The next evening, Masuka allegedly returned and drenched Chirongonoro with beer before smashing the bottle on the floor. Though she considered reporting him, Chirongonoro decided to let it slide until 1 June, when the tension exploded.
When things turned violent, the maid scooped up the children and ran to the neighbours for safety, leaving the feuding ex-lovers in a war zone.
The unthinkable was happening.
The prayer-warrior had gone full beast-mode.
She left Masuka with the shocked expression a dog might have if a rabbit that it was chasing for its dinner suddenly turned around and bit it.
Bulawayo Magistrate Maxwell Ncube remanded Chirongonoro, who did not enter a plea, in custody, and she will return to court on 11 June.
The case has baffled residents at Ross Camp, and even the ultimate gossips have not come up with an explanation for how a man of the law ended up on the receiving end of such a spiritual smackdown.
WATCH THIS SPACE. THE SAGA IS FAR FROM OVER!
