'Abusive' woman saves hubby from suicide

A BULAWAYO man attempted to hang himself from the roof trusses of his house citing abuse from his wife, only to be saved by the wife who managed to cut the rope just in time as he was reportedly gasping for breath.

Tafadzwa Chinhema who has since separated with his wife Beauty Mukodi supposedly after the cowardly incident said he tried to take his own life because he couldn't endure the constant abuse Mukodi has been subjecting him to whenever he was drunk.

Chinhema recounts his close shave with death at the Bulawayo Civil Court where his ex-wife Mukodi had dragged him while seeking a protection order against him.

Mukodi accused her ex-husband of abuse saying during the subsistence of their marriage Chinhema was in the habit of chucking her out of their matrimonial house in the middle of the night.

"Tafadzwa Chinhema is my ex-husband. We customarily got married in 2004 and separated in March this year. We have three minor children together. Despite the fact we separated Tafadzwa is in the habit of assaulting and insulting me.

"When we were still married he would throw me out of our matrimonial house in the middle of the night while accusing me of being a prostitute. The abuse got worse whenever he was drunk. He started being abusive when we got married but I have been patient hoping he will change.

"In March this year he attempted to scald me with boiling cooking oil but I escaped. On 15 March, before we separated he attempted to commit suicide and I rescued him by cutting the rope. I declare that his conduct is disturbing my peace and pray that he be ordered not to physically and verbally abuse me," said Mukodi.

Her submission didn't go down well with Chinhema who said Mukodi was the one who was always abusing him.

"It is not true that I am abusing her. She is the one who has been physically and verbally abusing me since 2004 when we got married. It is true that I once tried to kill myself because I couldn't stand the abuse she was always subjecting me to.

"She would physically abuse me especially when I was drunk because I wouldn't know what I would be doing," said Chinhema much to the shock of the presiding magistrate Tinashe Tashaya.

Charged the magistrate: "It is better that you quit drinking beer if it inhibits your ability to know what you will be doing to the extent that you tried to kill yourself."

In his ruling the magistrate ordered Chinhema not to verbally, physically and emotionally abuse his ex-wife.