Online Reporter
Anotida Chonzi
A HARARE woman claims her in-laws bashed her while she was pregnant to try and force her to abort.
Nester Mutengezi made the claims before Harare Civil Court magistrate, Johanna Mukwesha. She claimed the repeated attacks were meant to force her to abort.
“My mother-in-law’s sister and her two daughters teamed up to attack me, they don’t want me to give birth to a living baby.
“They forced entry into my bedroom by breaking my door just to assault me.
“My whole body hurts and I need money for an urgent scan.“I am afraid that after the bashing, if my baby is still okay,” she said.
She said her in-laws were also part of an ongoing criminal matter at the Harare Magistrates’ Court.
She applied to have her in-laws barred from assaulting, stalking and threatening to evict her from their home.
“We live on the same land with separate demarcations that we inherited from my mother in-law, however, they are now claiming ownership and demanding that I vacate the premises.
“I have nowhere else to go and I need protection from their wayward behaviour,” she said.
Alice Bunhu, who is a sister of Mutengezi’s mother-in-law, claimed she was also suffering at the hands of her daughter-in-law, who has labelled her a witch and prostitute.
“My daughters and I have never assaulted her, we have been in-and-out-of-courts over false allegations that we are now tired and want this to stop.
“How can she say we stalk her when we all live on the same land, we don’t have to stalk her to know what she is doing because we see her all the time,” she said.
Alice’s daughters, Ruth and Theresa, also denied the claims that they assaulted Mutengezi.
“She is lying about everything, we have never harmed her, she calls our mother a witch and prostitute without being provoked,” said Ruth.
“The day she insulted our mother, we then went to the police station but when we got there she had already made the first report and we got arrested after she told the police we had attacked her.’’
Magistrate Mukweshe granted Mutengezi and protection order and urged the four women to put their differences aside.
