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The late Mathias Mlilo

Pamela Shumba/Angeline Mpofu Chronicle Reporters
A SOLDIER has been found dead after a furious row with his wife.
Mathias Mlilo, 31, of Cowdray Park, was last seen on Saturday last week – but his decomposing body was only removed from his rented room on Tuesday evening.
Days earlier, Mlilo had been ordered by a court to pay $150 monthly maintenance to his wife, Brenda Chipato, who claimed he physically abused her.
Chipato, who until recently lived with Mlilo and their two-year-old son in the same room, was at her parents’ home at Imbizo Barracks when she was informed of the grisly find.

His landlord, Vimbai Hwechuma, who last spoke to Mlilo on Friday  suspected nothing, believing the soldier had gone back to work in Kwekwe.
Mlilo rented one room from Hwechuma, and they used the same main door – but she and her family were apparently oblivious to the stench from his decomposing body a feet away.

The alarm was raised by a neighbour who noticed a swarm of flies at Mlilo’s window.
Hwechuma told Chronicle: “I last saw Mlilo on Friday when he came to my vending stall to pay his rent. He apologised for an altercation he had with his wife and told me that he would be going to court. I never saw him again.

“The couple had their own key to the main door so I’m not sure when exactly he entered his room. My neighbour saw flies on his window and notified me, prompting us to call the police.”

Patricia Mutariswa, the neighbour, said there was a detectable strong stench coming out of Mlilo’s room.
“Initially, I thought the smell was coming from a refuse bin. I then noticed flies on the window and I quickly alerted my neighbour. We didn’t suspect anything tragic as we thought that he had gone back to Kwekwe,” said Mutariswa.

“I last spoke to Mlilo after he had a fight with his wife. He was threatening to kill her and commit suicide, saying his wife had shouted at him.”
Chipato said she had been forced to leave Mlilo after he beat her and threw their son to the floor.

She filed a police report, but later withdrew the charges after he pleaded with her. But she says when Mlilo was released from police custody, he claimed he had been tortured and warned her she would “pay” while making veiled threats to kill her.

“My husband came home drunk a fortnight ago. I had taken him to the maintenance court because he was not giving me money to buy groceries. He shouted at me and I ignored him. He then grabbed our child by one of his legs and threw him to the floor. I asked him to stop but he started assaulting me,” said Chipato.

“He dragged me out of the house and continued assaulting me, hitting my head against the pre-cast wall. I managed to escape with the baby and reported the matter to the police before he was arrested.”

Chipato says Mlilo had called her on Saturday to say he was unwell – she suspects due to the alleged police torture – and begged her to visit him, but she was too skint to make the trip.

“I tried calling him on Sunday but his cellphone went unanswered the whole day. I couldn’t go to Cowdray Park because I only had $1 on me,” said the grieving Chipato.

She called their landlord who said she had last seen him on Friday, and then concluded that he had gone to work in Kwekwe.
“I was shocked when I received the news that he had died and his body was decomposing in the house.”

Mlilo’s friend and workmate, Nyasha Gama, said he last saw him on Saturday. Mlilo had declined Gama’s offer of a beer drink, saying he was not feeling well.
Gama was shocked when their boss called him on Monday, stating that Mlilo had not reported for work.

Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo said an investigation had been launched.