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Ivan Zhakata Court Reporter
A Harare man wept uncontrollably in court and pleaded with a Civil Court magistrate to stop his wife from abusing him. Timothy Ngwenya could not hold back his tears after his wife, Loina Bvutse, who was seeking a protection order, told the court that she wanted him barred from coming to the matrimonial home. The matter had to be briefly stood down to allow Ngwenya to calm down.

Bvutse had told Harare Civil Court magistrate Mrs Barbra Mateko that Ngwenya neglected her and the children only to come back after 10 months and start harassing them.

“He is coming to my house harassing me in front of the children but he left us 10 months ago,” she said. “He assaults me and scolds me using vulgar words calling me a prostitute. He also humiliates me in public,” added Bvutse.

This did not go down well with Ngwenya who accused his wife of abusing him because he is a Mozambican. He told the court that Bvutse confiscated his birth certificate and national identification before chasing him out of their house.

“She is chasing me out of our house claiming it belongs to her but I am the one who built the house,” Ngwenya said. “She fabricates allegations against me and I have been arrested on several occasions because of her lies. I have never abused her but she is the one who abuses me saying I am a Mozambican and cannot do anything to her so I do not know if being a Mozambican means that I should be abused.

“She also comes to my workplace causing havoc and I am failing to get employment because of her violent nature. I am the one who is suffering at the hands of this woman because I have never abused her,” he said, before bursting into tears.

Mrs Mateko ordered Ngwenya to stop abusing his wife and advised the two to solve their marital disputes amicably.