A Harare man smashed his mother-in-law’s door with an axe after she refused to “hand over” his wife to him, the Civil Court heard yesterday.
Florence Vhera claimed Stanely Safarawo was in the habit of insulting her mother using vulgar words. Vhera was seeking a protection order against Safarawo whom she was accusing of physically and verbally abusing her.
“He handed me over to my mother last year saying he was no longer interested in our marriage but now he came last week armed with an axe and broke my mother’s door demanding to take me home,” she said.
Vhera told the magistrate Mr Trevor Nyatsanza that Safarawo was threatening to kill her.
“I am now living in fear because he is always threatening to harm me and my mother,” said Vhera.
Safarawo denied the allegations levelled against him.
“She is lying because I never physically abused her as she has just alleged.”‘
Mr Nyatsanza granted the order in Vhera’s favour which barred Safarawo from verbally or physically abusing her.
He also ordered Safarawo to keep peace towards Vhera at all times. Meanwhile, a 28-year-old man yesterday appeared in court for allegedly destroying his mother-in-law’s property worth $928.
Liberty Chihovo pleaded guilty to malicious damage to property charges when he appeared before Mbare magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje.
He was remanded to May 4.
Chihovo told the court that he damaged the property out of anger after he realised that his wife had a previous marriage but never told him about it.
“I admit to the charge but I did that out of anger, I was angry with my wife. We were married for six years, but she never told me that she was once married and had a child,” said Chihovo.
“When I started recalling what was transpiring in our marriage, I then realised that was the reason why she fled from my house because she knew one day I would come to know everything,” he said.