The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Correspondent
A Marange man who is being accused by his third wife of killing and using their child for rituals has approached the courts to seek refuge.
Sam Mungoyo appeared before Mutare magistrate, Mr Xavier Chipato last week on Thursday.
He pleaded with the court to evict his wife, Charity Nyajowa, from their homestead.
He was also seeking a protection order against her as she has allegedly been threatening him with death.
Mungoyo said following his son’s death after a short illness, Nyajowa accused him and his two other wives of killing the child.
“She declared that she no longer loved me. She ordered me and my other wives to leave our homestead,” he said.
Mungoyo said there has been bad blood between him and his wife ever since their child’s death in 2009.
“She accused me of killing our child. She threatened to kill me and my two wives if we resist relocating from the homestead. I moved away with my second wife. We built a new home, but my first wife refused to move. She said the homestead belonged to her as she was the first wife, so we left her with Nyajowa,” said Mungoyo.
He said his first wife died under mysterious circumstances and Nyajowa claimed to have caused her death.
“She sends me text messages daily saying she killed my first wife as she also had a hand in her child’s death. She claims that we sacrificed my late son for rituals, which I never did. She has been sending me these texts day and night telling me that she is coming for me. She says my death is imminent. She claims that after my death, my second wife will be her next target,” said Mangoyo.
He produced a number of text messages purportedly sent by Nyajowa in court.
In the texts, Nyajowa threatens her estranged husband with death.
He said he now fears for his life, adding that Nyajowa should be evicted from his homestead.
“I gave her a divorce token and she threw it back at me. We went to the village head and she did the same thing. I have also approached Chief Marange’s court and the matter is still pending before that court,” he said.
He also told the court that after receiving the summons from Mutare Civil Court, Nyajowa had said she would not waste her time attending the hearing.
Nyajowa was in default when the matter was heard.
Mr Chipato granted the protection order in Mangoyo’s favour.
The order will be valid for one year. However, he did not deal with the eviction matter as it had not been presented as a formal application.
Instead, he advised Mangoyo to make a formal application for eviction if he wants Nyajowa evicted from the homestead.
