Spurned man demands lobola back, assaults father-in-law

A MAN from Dete area outside Hwange beat up his elderly father-in-law for refusing to give him back cattle he paid as lobola for his estranged wife.

Mark Ncube, 38, of Songwe area under Chief Nelukoba, was convicted on his own plea of guilty to assault by Hwange magistrate Portia Mhlanga. He was sentenced to a suspended six months in prison on condition that he completes 210 hours of community service at Nsonga Primary School.

Ncube told the magistrate that he was incensed when his in-law refused to hand back his beasts and ended up assaulting him. The father-in-law, Tapinda Lazarus Muleya, 60, of the same area was left with facial and chest injuries following the assault. "I was angry when I found beads and clothes which had been left by the complainant in my bedroom while I was away. I was confused as I didn't know what was going on.

"What also incensed me is that he refused to give me back my cattle despite that his daughter has since left me," said Ncube. It was not mentioned how many head of cattle had been paid by Ncube as lobola for his unnamed wife. The court heard that Ncube and the unnamed wife have been living separately for some time.

Prosecuting, Fadzai Mharadze told the court that on May 16 around 7AM, Ncube approached the complainant demanding his cattle back. He said: "Ncube told Muleya that he had paid lobola for his wife but now since they had separated, he needed his cattle back."

Mharadze told the court that Muleya refused to give in to Ncube's demands resulting in his son-in-law assaulting him with fists several times on the chest and neck.

A report was made to the police leading to Ncube's arrest. Appearing before the same court was a 32-year-old woman from Hwange who was lucky to escape with a caution for ill-treating and neglecting her minor child. The woman from the Railways Section in the coal mining town blamed her actions on the devil.

She physically abused her son by whipping him before biting him on the cheek. The boy is doing Grade Two at a local school. The woman told the court her son had stolen $3 which she wanted to use to buy mealie-meal. "I was engulfed by the evil spirit. While I was beating my son I don't know how I ended up lifting him and biting him.

"I just heard him screaming shouting that I had bit him. I've started to attend church so that the demon can be exorcised," said the woman who cannot be named to protect the minor. The court was told that on Monday last week, the boy returned from school and found the doors locked as his mother was not home.

He went to his grandmother's place to play. His mother later arrived and followed him. On their way back home, the woman whipped the boy with a switch and in the process sunk her teeth into his right cheek. The boy was treated and discharged at St Patrick's Hospital.