adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
THE family of a 26-year-old woman, who was axed to death by her husband for coming home with a new pair of shoes, has told of the trauma and nightmares caused by the horrific death.
Themba Ndlovu beheaded his wife, Ntombi Gumbo on Friday last week and then turned on his six-year-old stepdaughter whom he attacked with the same axe and left for dead.
Ndlovu, who is originally from Lupane and was employed in Gampu area in Bulilima District, hanged himself about 50 metres behind his in-laws homestead on Tuesday.
Thiyiwe Sibanda, 46, Gumbo’s mother, who stays in Mazwaligwe Village, said her entire family was going through hell.
“I’m supposed to be strong and hold the family together but what do I tell her children aged six and 12 years who’ve been repeatedly asking the whereabouts of their mother?” asked Sibanda, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“The six year old is in a very bad shape in hospital. She screams and asks when her mother will come to visit her,” said the old woman.
She said her 12-year-old grandchild; Ludo Moyo had been behaving strangely since her mother’s death.
“Ludo has never been the same since her mother’s death. She’s reserved and she isn’t playing like she used to. On the day she heard her mother had been killed, she cried non-stop and we had to take her to her aunt’s homestead.
“On the following morning she woke up early bolted out of her aunt’s home and fled into the bush. She was screaming and crying like an insane person,’’ said Sibanda.
She said on the day of the burial, Ludo demanded to see her mother.
Sibanda narrated how villagers tried in vain to counsel her and tried to use threats to no avail.
She said the family was eventually forced to show her the body after she stood her ground.
“My heart cracked to see my granddaughter’s world collapsing. No child should ever be made to live through such an experience. Now she’ll forever remember her mother in that state,” said the granny.
Sibanda said the child seemed depressed and withdrawn.
She said although Ndlovu was their stepfather, to the two children he was their only father and they respected him as such.
Sibanda said she did not know how the two children would cope now that their mother was gone.
‘’The 12-year-old girl was staying with me but the younger one was living with her mother and stepfather. When they discharge her from hospital she’ll have to stay with me as well.
“I don’t know what I’ll tell this six-year-old when she asks me about her mother. I know these children will always have flashbacks that will trigger memories of their mother. There will always be a gap that I might not manage to fill,’’ said Sibanda.
She said the incident had numbed the family.
The sight of her daughter’s butchered body, Sibanda said, was still fresh in her mind.
“Seeing my child in the state that she was, left me greatly pained and I’m still in that state up to today. I doubt if that memory will ever fade,” she said.
With her voice faltering, she added: “I don’t know why my son-in-law had to take away my first born child in that manner. After all the takkies that he claimed had been bought by a boyfriend were from me.’’
She said when she arrived at the scene her grandchild had already been rushed to the clinic.
“My daughter’s body was lying on the bloody kitchen floor with the head almost chopped off,” said Sibanda.
Ntombi’s father, Dunane Gumbo who works in South Africa said the incident was a paralysing tragedy.
He said his two grandchildren, his wife and his 21-year-old son who attended the murder scene needed psychological therapy.
Gumbo said he would try to provide for the children financially but that would not erase memories of their mother’s death.
“I’m seriously considering taking these children for counselling because I think they need it especially the six-year-old who witnessed the incident.
“These children had already lost their biological father and they’ve now lost their mother in a very painful way,’’ he said.
Gumbo said the cruel action by his son-in-law had shocked him. He said Ndlovu had been married to his daughter customarily.
“I wonder what got into my son-in-law. It’s obvious that when he attacked my daughter he wanted to kill her and he succeeded in doing that.
“It was even cruel of him to attack the girl and to hang himself outside my homestead. There are many trees in this area but he chose one close to my homestead. There was no need to kill my daughter. He should have sent her back home if he felt she had wronged him,” he said.
Ndlovu axed his wife to death after accusing her of bringing home a new pair of shoes bought by her boyfriend.
Online Reporter