Woman loses front teeth in fight with daughter-in-law

A thirty-eight-year-old woman from Bulawayo's Mzilikazi suburb allegedly went berserk and assaulted her mother-in-law with a brick on the forehead and mouth resulting in her losing her front teeth.

This was heard before Bulawayo magistrate Tinashe Tashaya, when the accused Sizalobuhle Siwela (38) was brought to the dock facing a charge of physical abuse and domestic violence recently.

She pleaded guilty to the charge. Circumstances as presented by the prosecutor Charles Danda are that on 30 December 2014, the accused who was in the company of her younger sister went to her mother-in-law's house, Senzeni Masuku, to fetch her daughter who had visited her grandparents.

The court heard that when the accused got to the complainant's house, which is also in Mzilikazi, a misunderstanding ensued as the complainant refused to hand over the child.

This did not go down well with the accused who in a fit of rage picked a brick and "beat the lights off" the complainant.

Masuku was then rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital for treatment and the matter was reported to the police leading to Siwela's arrest.

When asked by the magistrate why she committed the offence, the remorseful Siwela argued that she acted in self defence as Masuku had assaulted her first.

"Your Worship, my mother-in-law is the one who started beating me up, so I fought back with a brick because I was defenceless as I was carrying a four-month-old baby on my back."

However, Siwela heaved a sigh of relief when the magistrate remanded her out of custody to 15 January.