Online Reporter
Spiwe Sarakunze
Herald Reporter
A HARARE woman has taken her husband to court, accusing him of sexual abuse, physical assault and knowingly infecting her with sexually-transmitted infections (STIs).
Sekai Ndoro told the presiding magistrate, Ms Johanna Mukwesha, at the Harare Civil Court about the abuse she was facing from her husband Josiah Ndoro.
“I used to ask him to at least use protection because I was always getting sick, but he told me that I am his wife and I had no right to refuse him or ask questions,” she said.
“When I tried to refuse to sleep with him, he would beat me, sometimes in front of our children. I have been living in fear every day.”
According to her testimony, her husband routinely forced himself on her, disregarding her pleas for protection or even basic consent.
She narrated how she repeatedly begged her husband to use protection after she started experiencing abnormal symptoms and health complications.
She said she gathered enough courage to stand up to him when she visited a clinic and was diagnosed with a sexually-transmitted infection.
Upon further testing and counselling, she discovered that her husband had been aware of his STI status and was receiving treatment secretly, yet he continued to sleep with her without protection.
“What hurts me the most is that he knew. He knew he was sick and he was taking medication and still chose to abuse me,” she mourned.
“How can a man say he loves you, yet destroy your health and dignity like that?”
Sekai told the court that she had reported her husband several times to her aunt and family elders, but the abuse continued.
She also claimed that he had isolated her from friends and family, using manipulation and threats to keep her silent.
“He always said no one would believe me and that as a wife I had no right to deny him his conjugal rights, but I am not an object,” she said.
“I am a human being who is tired of suffering in silence.”
In her application, she requested a protection order barring her husband from coming near her or contacting her, citing fear for her safety.
She also said that she just wants her peace and health back and that her husband should be taught a lesson.
Josiah denied the accusations, claiming that the couple merely had marital misunderstandings like any other family.
“This is just a plot to embarrass me. I have never forced her or beaten her, and she is just trying to destroy my name because we had some differences,” he said.
He explained that the main issue is that his wife does not want to fulfil her duties and is fabricating facts only to gain favour.
Magistrate Mukwesha favoured the applicant and granted the order while warning the respondent against sexually and physically abusing his wife.
