Man Burns Down Own Property After Marital Dispute

In a sad development, Rosebell Mdlongwa (36) from Gwanda was left stranded after her jilted abusive husband burnt down all their property in a fit of rage after they had a marital dispute.

This comes after Amos Phiri (37) from Matshetsheni area set their property on fire on Sunday morning, following a marital dispute over alleged infidelity.

In an interview with the local paper The Chronicle, Mdlongwa, whose a  mother of three children aged 5, 10, and 14, said she is now stranded after her husband of 11 years destroyed all their clothes, food, property, and valuable documents which they had in the house.

She revealed that her husband who works as a gold panner was in the habit of physically assaulting her on a daily basis accusing her of infidelity.

On the day of the incident, fearing for her life she had decided to flee to a neighbor’s house after he had made repeated threats to stab her with a knife for three consecutive days.

“I last saw him on Thursday when he left our home after severely assaulting me. I was alerted by a neighbour who sent children to tell me that my husband was burning our property. I rushed to the house but I didn’t get near as I was afraid but I saw him burning our property from afar. He collected property from the house and piled it outside and set it on fire,” she said.

Phiri also allegedly destroyed their co-tenant, Patience Nyathi’s property before threatening to stab her with her knife accusing her of influencing his wife to engage in adultery.

Mdlongwa revealed that this is apparently the third time her husband had destroyed their property in a fit of rage.

“My husband is an abusive man, he has been beating me up almost on a daily basis and this is the third time that he has burnt our property. What’s even worse now is that he has also burnt our neighbor’s property. He hits me with anything that he can find. I have previously reported him to the police but each time he asks for forgiveness and I have been withdrawing the charges.

“I don’t work and right now I don’t have means of feeding my children or recovering the property that we lost. My children don’t have clothes, shoes, blankets, or food as he destroyed it all. I don’t know what I will do as he is our sole provider. I would appreciate any form of help that I can get. What pains me is that my children have had to witness all this abuse and violence as young as they are,” she said.

After burning down all the property,  he fled from the scene. Community members tried to apprehend him but to no avail.

The police have already launched a manhunt for him.