Shebeen queen assaults patron

A SHEBEEN queen from Pumula suburb was arrested for allegedly assaulting a customer with beer bottle on the forehead after he failed to pay $5 for the beer he had downed.

Nonhlanhla Dube, 23, of Old Pumula appeared before Provincial Magistrate Abednico Ndebele for assaulting Stanley Mpofu, 28, from the same suburb.

Dube told the court that she and Mpofu had a misunderstanding after he failed to pay for the beer.

"We were both drinking on the day of the incident. I asked him to pay $5 for the beer he had drunk but he insisted that he had paid for it while he hadn't. We had a quarrel which developed into a physical fight and I then picked up an empty beer bottle and hit him," said Dube.

Mpofu was hospitalised after he sustained a deep cut on the forehead.

Prosecuting, Maria John told the court that on January 1, 2016, Mpofu was at Dube's shebeen drinking beer and a misunderstanding arose in which she accused him of drinking without paying.

"The complainant insisted that he had paid and this angered the accused who then struck the complainant with an empty beer bottle and he sustained a cut on his forehead," said John.

The prosecutor said Mpofu was sent to hospital and a medical report can be produced as an exhibit before the court.