The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Correspondent
A MUTARE woman who accuses her husband of forcing her into intimacy has dragged him to Mutare Civil Court.
Applying for a protection order, Ethel Sadza said her husband Rockford Kasamba has reduced her to a sex slave.
The matter was heard by Mutare magistrate, Mr Xavier Chipato and Kasamba was in default.
“I am not in the mood for intimacy most of the times and he forces me into it. Even during my monthly menstrual period he forces himself on me. I have tried in vain to reason with him,” said Sadza.
She said she usually yields to Kasamba’s demands because of his violent tendencies.
Sadza said at times Kasamba threatens to kill her.
Her husband also allegedly accuses her of cheating on him, which he believes is the source of her wife’s reluctance for intimacy.
“He thinks that each time I deny him his conjugal rights, it is because I would have been intimate with another lover, which is very wrong. I have health issues, but he does not understand this,” said Sadza.
She went on to tell the court that Kasamba is also in the habit of insulting, assaulting and humiliating her in public.
“This usually happens when I would have denied him what he believes rightfully belongs to him. He tells the public that I am a cheat who refuses to be intimate with her husband. This is so demeaning, especially if this is said in the presence of people who know you,” said Sadza.
Kasamba also stands accused of selling the couple’s matrimonial property whenever he has a dispute with his wife.
Mr Chipato granted the protection order in Sadza’s favour.
The order bars Kasamba from assaulting, insulting, harassing, threatening and disturbing his wife’s peace.
The order will be valid for one year.
Marital rape or spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without the spouse’s consent.
Marital rape is considered a form of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
It is a criminal offence in Zimbabwe, although most of the cases go unreported due to the victims’ fear that reporting will destroy their marriages.
