Zimbabwe court jails husband for beating wife after she served dish he “dislikes”

A drunk 34-year-old man has in Zimbabwe’s has been sentenced to 30 days imprisonment for beating his wife after she served him food he “dislikes”.

The accused Luckson Chimangariso was convicted on his own plea of guilty when he appeared Monday before Chinhoyi magistrate Melody Rwizi facing charges domestic violence.

He was, however, given an option to pay a fine before 15 February 2021 or risk being jailed.

The state case was that on 20 January 2021 and at Man’ai Village at around midnight, the accused returned home from a beer drink and found his wife, Harriet Chigogo (31) sleeping.

The complainant woke up and served Chimangariso sadza (Nsima) with mushroom.

However, he declined to eat the food saying he did not like mushroom.

He then asked for money from his wife to return for a beer drink at a nearby village.

Chigogo told her husband she did not have cash resulting in him turning violent.

Sensing danger, the wife told her husband she wanted to pack her belongings and leave, the court heard.

However, this did not go down well with accused who grabbed his wife, who was yelling for help, and slapped her on the face before choking and smashing her head against the wall several times.

As if that was not enough, the accused grabbed complainant’s braids while she lay helplessly on the ground, pulled her and tethered the braids to a barbed wire boundary fence of their yard.

The accused’s sister, Portia Chimangariso responded to the distress call and rushed to the scene to try to restrain him, but to no avail.

However, other neighbours who heard the skirmishes intervened and saved complainant from further assault.

A report was made at Police Station and later the woman was referred to Hospital for treatment.

A medical affidavit highlighting the degree of injury was presented in court.