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AN estranged couple from Victoria Falls risk being arrested for the alleged abuse of their six-year-old son following numerous fights and an attempt to commit suicide by hanging in full view of the minor.Police had to be called in on Wednesday to the couple’s rented house in Mkhosana Township to rescue Mr Amon Mupande (38) after his wife Miss Abigail Nyoni (29) had detained him and the little boy in the house for nearly 24 hours to punish him.
No formal report was compiled by police but the couple was attended to at the police community liaison office at Victoria Falls Police Station where it was warned against fighting and abusing the boy.
The boy, who is yet to go to school, has on numerous occasions been exposed to the danger of traffic and wild animals as his mother would send him through the bush from Mkhosana Township to his father’s workplace, nearly 10 kilometres away on foot.
The woman alleged that Mr Mupande had fled his house to stay at an unknown place leading to her detaining him.
Miss Nyoni allegedly gave him a bucket as a makeshift toilet, telling him: “You are not going anywhere. If you want to relieve yourself use the bucket after all you have no bowels to empty because you didn’t eat anything”.
“She locked me in the room at 4pm yesterday until this morning. I couldn’t go and now I have lost my job because of her,” said Mr Mupande as the two narrated their movie-like experience to counsellors at Victoria Falls Police Station.
Mr Mupande was working at an abattoir until his dismissal after his detention.
The couple reportedly fought at Mr Mupande’s workplace, after his wife followed him to his workplace and demanded money despite the fact that he had not been paid, leading to a fist fight in front of his bosses.
“On four occasions she sent our son to my workplace to get groceries oblivious of the danger of traffic or wild animals. I would hire a taxi for him back home and on the last instance I told my son that he wouldn’t go back and that is when she came to my workplace fuming and we went together to the house where she detained me,” said Mr Mupande.
His wife accused him of neglecting her and the child.
“He doesn’t drink beer but each time he gets his pay he goes to Hwange and I don’t know what he does there. I came here from Binga because he had abandoned us and this is continuing. I would go to mara (dumpsite) to scavenge for food and utensils because he doesn’t buy any,” retorted Miss Nyoni.
She alleged that her husband had on several occasions threatened to commit suicide.
“He always threatened to hang himself and one day I tied a rope to the roof and told him to hang himself. He put his head but later chickened out . . . he should not lie that he will kill himself, he knows how painful it is and would never do it. The rope is still hanging from the roof,” she said sending counsellors into laughter.
“He has money but he just does not want to provide for us. He always abandons us for a long time.”
An officer who attended to the couple before advising them to take the boy to his grandmother in Binga told them: “Both of you face a likely arrest if you continue doing this. Your actions are causing emotional abuse to this minor boy and you can be arrested and charged with neglect of a child.”
A marriage counsellor, Mr Mathew Muleya who accompanied the officers who rescued Mr Mupande from detention urged the couple to act as mature adults.
“Fighting in front of children traumatises them and as a result that will affect their behaviour. The boy should be going to school but it seems both of you are not concerned,” he said.
Online Reporter