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Prosper Dembedza Court Correspondent
A Chinese man is seeking a peace order at the Harare Civil Court against his neighbour who is accusing him of killing dogs and selling the meat at his restaurant.

Wang Shaojun, through his lawyer Yaqub Ali Jogee, claimed his neighbour Florence Coughlan was disturbing his peace by reporting matters of dogs to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Veterinaries For Animal Welfare Zimbabwe.

He also said Coughlan consistently reported that his wife always beats the dogs.

Mr Jogee told magistrate Mr Trevor Nyatsanza that his client was now living in fear of Coughlan who is making false reports against him.

He said problems between the two arose after Wang built a double storey complex which houses his restaurant.

“Problems also arose because of the durawall which forms the boundary between the yards that was partially collapsing and respondent’s daughter’s father in-law wanted to build a wall and wanted an equal share from my client of which he agreed, but advised him that due to the harsh economic environment, he could not do it at the present time,” said Mr Jogee.

“This infuriated the respondent because my client was building up a restaurant and they felt he should have contributed to the building of the wall.”

Mr Jogee said VAWZ officers visited Wang’s restaurant after Coughlan made a false report that he had killed a dog for her stewing pot.

In her notice of opposition, Coughlan said the real issue was that Wang perpetrated violence on his dogs.

“The complainant keeps dogs at his residence and on numerous times we hear cries of anguish and pain from the animals and as any normal person would do under the circumstances, we go and investigate by looking through the durawall,” she said.

Coughlan said this was by no means a dispute between neighbours, but a case of serious animal cruelty.

She said Wang was seeking a peace order against her when in actual fact it should be her doing that as her peace was being disturbed by the constant cries from the dogs.

Mr Nyatsanza deferred the matter to tomorrow for continuation.