A MAN from Robert Sinyoka village on the outskirts of Bulawayo had his plea altered to not guilty to attempted murder for attacking and ripping open the stomach of his estranged wife with an Okapi knife after when he allegedly found her with her new boyfriend.
SILAS NKALA STAFF REPORTER
Vusumusi Tusi (48) initially pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his wife Siphiwe Ndlovu (48) when the case was first heard, but the court altered his plea when he appeared before Bulawayo Regional Court magistrate Sikhumbuzo Nyathi after being asked to narrate his version of events.
Tusi told the court that he stabbed Ndlovu when she held him while he was being attacked by her boyfriend Simon Dube, whom he was fighting with.
“When I stabbed the complainant she was holding me when I was fighting with Dube who was attacking me. She had grabbed me and I stabbed her to free myself,” Tusi said.
When Nyathi asked why he was fighting with Dube, Tusi said it was because he had found him with his wife.
Nyathi indicated that although he had pleaded guilty the court was changing his plea from guilty to not guilty and the case would go to full trial due to the reasons Tusi gave for stabbing his wife.
Tusi told the court that he had a long standing misunderstanding with his wife that started in November 2013 as Ndlovu failed to give him satisfactory answers each time he found her not at home.
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He said Ndlovu would sometimes spend the night away from home without informing him about her whereabouts.
On February 15, Tusi said Ndlovu had removed a lot of property from their matrimonial home and taken their two children doing Grade Zero and Grade 6 and left.
Tusi said his older children left at home told him that their mother had used part of the money meant for school fees to transport the household property to an unknown destination.
Prosecutor Masimba Saruaka told the court that on April 4 2014 at around 8pm, Tusi got information that his estranged wife was seeing another man and he then armed himself with an Okapi knife and went to their place.
He lay in ambush at a distance and when Ndlovu came out of the house and walked towards where her new lover had parked his car close to the business centre, Tusi intercepted her.
Sensing danger, Ndlovu ran and got into Dube’s car, Tusi dragged her out of the car and stabbed her several times in the stomach as well as on both her legs and right arm.
He then disappeared into the night leaving Ndlovu writhing in pain with her intestines protruding.
Dube, who had driven away from the scene during the scuffle, allegedly returned and took Ndlovu to Pumula Police Station where a report was made before rushing her to hospital.
Tusi was later arrested and the knife he used was also recovered from him.
