Widow takes alcoholic son to court

Spiwe Sarakunze

Herald Reporter

A WOMAN from Harare who has been enduring abuse and harassment at the hands of her son has finally got a reprieve after she won a protection order against him.

Eunigate Chonzi, who is a widow, said her son Linton Chisakuwana has been making her life difficult.

“I am a widow, and I never imagined that my own child would be the one to make me homeless. He shouts at me, calls me names, and even abuses his siblings,” she said.

“He chased me away from my husband’s house as if I were a stranger.”

Chonzi told Harare Civil Court magistrate, Ms Johanna Mukwesha that her son had become an alcoholic whose drinking habits had transformed him into an unpredictable and aggressive man.

Chonzi explained that the turning point came when Linton chased her out of the family home that she had built with her late husband, so that they can raise all their children in it.

She said she was not the only one being harassed by her son but that he also does the same to his siblings, causing a rift that could never be mended.

She went on to recount a particular incident in which her son allegedly attempted to stab his brother during a heated argument.

“He took a knife and went after his brother. If others had not intervened, something worse could have happened. My son has never been the same since he started drinking heavily.”

Linton did not deny most of the accusations levelled against him.

“I agree that I erred, and I want my mother to forgive me. I didn’t mean to harm anyone, but she drove me to that point,” he said.

He accused his mother of having a hand in his late brother’s death.

“My brother died of cancer, but she kept buying him cigarettes even when he was sick. I tried to stop her and told her it was wrong, but she wouldn’t listen,” he said.

“I lost my temper because I was trying to save my brother’s life.”

He argued that his aggression came from frustration, claiming that his mother refused to heed his warnings about the consequences of her actions on his brother’s health.

Despite Linton’s explanation, Chonzi maintained that her son’s drinking had poisoned the family home, turning it into a place of fear and hostility.

“It is the alcohol that controls him now. I want peace in my house, but instead, I am living in fear of my own child,” she said.

The court granted an order against Linton, barring him from insulting, assaulting, and chasing his mother out of her own house.

Linton was also advised to live peacefully with his mother and give her the respect she deserves as a parent.