adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
A BULILIMA man has appeared in court charged with assault after he allegedly thrashed his wife for refusing to give up on their marriage.
Before the alleged assault, Gift Ndebele, 28, had shown his wife, Thobekile Nkala, 27, love messages from his new found girlfriend in a bid to force her to quit the union.
She refused.
As a last resort Ndebele allegedly attempted to strangle Nkala before beating her up in a bid to send the message across.
Ndebele denied assaulting his wife before Plumtree magistrate Gideon Ruvetsa and claimed the marriage had collapsed.
“Our marriage is not working at all. We are always having misunderstandings and we do not have peace at home,” he said adding: “I have told this woman before that I do not love her anymore but she is just stubborn.
“I did not even beat her up but I do not know why she is still holding onto this marriage, which is not working. I have made it clear to her that I want to marry another woman.”
Nkala hit back at Ndebele: “My husband is unfaithful and I know that he is trying to get rid of me so that one of his girlfriends can live with him in our house. The reason why he beat me up is because I am always questioning his infidelity.
“He has made several attempts to intimidate me so that I move out of the house.”
Prosecutor Medica Tshuma said Ndebele, a butcher in Figtree, assaulted his wife on May 11 at around 8PM.
He said Ndebele approached Nkala and told her to return to her parents’ home as he did not love her anymore. When she refused, he pounced on her and attempted to strangle and hit her all over the body with an axe handle, the court heard.
He then allegedly dragged her out of the house and locked her outside resulting in Nkala making a report to the police.
Ndebele was remanded out of custody to June 6 for continuation of trial.
Online Reporter