'Hubby sleeps with knife under his pillow,' woman tells court

A Harare woman today told the court that her husband sleeps with a knife under his pillow and is always threatening to kill her and their four daughters. 
Spiwe Sibanda said one of her three daughters was forced into an early marriage due to poverty as her husband Lukama Klasi ignore the welfare of the family.
She said Klasi is in the habit of physically abusing her while calling her a goblin which is responsible for his poverty.
This was revealed at the Harare civil court where Sibanda was seeking a protection order against Klasi.
"Whenever he comes home drunk he walks around the house naked insulting and assaulting me in front of our children. He calls me a goblin accusing me of being responsible for his poverty status.
"Our three daughters had been forced into immature marriages because of poverty as he doesn't buy food or clothes for us.
"We have been married for the past 20-years yet he doesn't even know the sizes of my clothes and my undergarments because he doesn't buy me anything, only to treat me like his maid," she said.
Klasi refuted all the allegations as fabrications saying Sibanda was an off and on mental patient.
"She is lying that I ignore the welfare of my family because right now I am even taking care of her mother who is staying with us as we speak. I don't physically or verbally abuse her as she is alleging and I never threatened to kill her and our children because I love my family," he said.
Magistrate Gamuchirai Siwardi asked Sibanda to bring her mother to court tomorrow for continuation of the matter.