Gibson Mhaka
GROOM kidnapping!
A Bulawayo man who feels trapped in an unhappy marriage made a claim which is too extraordinary to be explained when he accused his wife of conspiring with her church elders and tricking him into marrying her.
Benjamin Ncube said he made a mistake when he signed his life to Charlet Ncube after she allegedly connived with her church elders and arranged a wedding which was not even attended by their relatives.
A regretful Benjamin said what his wife and her church elders did to him was like kidnapping a drunk man from a bar and making him read to them aloud from the Bible.
“I do not agree with her claims that I’m her husband. What happened is that she organised a wedding with her church elders without my knowledge. On the day she bought me a suit and took me to her church where her elders pushed me to marry her. Our relatives were not even there. What they did to me is just like kidnapping a drunk man from a bar and making him to read aloud from the Bible,” lamented Benjamin.
He was responding to claims by his wife that for the 38 years they had been married he had been constantly verbally and physically abusing her. The claims were made at the Bulawayo Civil Court where she was seeking a protection order against him.
“Benjamin Ncube is my husband for 38 years. However, he is a very violent man as he always beats me up. He is also threatening to kill me and always insults me while accusing me of cheating on him. He chased me away from our matrimonial home and I am now staying with relatives. My life is not at peace. Despite the fact that he is abusing me, he is still my husband and I still love him,” said Charlet.
Turning to claims that she connived with her church elders and tricked her husband into marrying her, Charlet said: “It is not true that I forced him into the marriage. He is the one who came and told me that at his workplace they wanted a marriage certificate and that is when we arranged with one of our church pastors who was also a marriage officer to formalise our marriage.”
Meanwhile, Benjamin said their problems started after he caught his wife with another man in their matrimonial house.
“It is not true that I chased her away. She left on her own after I found her with another man in our house. After I caught her, she reported me to the police saying I had assaulted her. She said she cannot stay with me. This was despite the fact that when we got married, she had a daughter and I raised her until she got married,” responded Benjamin.
Charlet, who also accused her husband of cheating, insisted that she still loved him and wanted to come back to their matrimonial home.
When he was asked by the presiding magistrate Adelaide Mbeure, if he still loved his wife Benjamin said: “It’s almost two years since we separated and we can’t say we are still married when I do all things like cooking and washing on my own. I feel that I made a mistake by agreeing to marry her.”
For the purpose of keeping peace between the two estranged parties the magistrate ordered Benjamin not to verbally and physically abuse his wife or threaten her in any way.
The magistrate also advised him that if he was no longer interested in the marriage, he should file for divorce at the High Court.
