- by Met
Woman collapses outside courtroom
A WOUNDED woman who came to court bleeding profusely following an assault by her husband, collapsed just outside the courtroom yesterday.
The woman, Blantina Mateta,( 31), of Cowdray Park suburb in Bulawayo who had come to court to testify against her husband, Yekelani Ndebele, (33), had to be rushed to hospital after she collapsed.
Western Commonage provincial resident magistrate Willard Maphios Moyo heard how on Tuesday evening, Ndebele brutally stabbed his wife with an unidentified sharp object in the forehead.
Ndebele accused her of repossessing her cellphone sim card from his girlfriend without his approval. Prosecuting, Ephraim Mavhunduse, narrated how on January 14, 2014, Ndebele confronted his wife demanding to know why she had decided to reclaim her NetOne line from his girlfriend without notifying him.
The court heard that Ndebele, who was clearly not satisfied with the explanation given by his wife, flew into a rage and stabbed her with a sharp object, ripping open her forehead.
“Ndebele and Mateta had an argument over a missing NetOne sim card belonging to the complainant. When Mateta asked her husband where he had put her sim card, he said he did not know,” said Mavhunduse.
Mateta, the court heard, decided to call her number and it was answered by her husband’s girlfriend. The complainant then indicated to the woman that the sim card was hers and the two arranged to meet so that the girlfriend could surrender the sim card. Later in the evening, Ndebele confronted his wife during which an argument ensued over the sim card.
He stabbed his wife several times in the forehead. Mateta was taken to Mpilo Central Hospital where she was sewn eight stitches on her head.
Ndebele was not asked to plead to charges of physical abuse. He was remanded in custody to January 24 pending the compilation of a medical report by doctors.