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Thubelihle Mabhena Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO man was allegedly beaten up by his in-laws after he went to their house with a police officer to collect his late wife’s death certificate. The man had gone to his in-laws’ home armed with a court order granting him authority to collect the document.

But all hell broke loose when he got to the house to find an angry mob which attacked him and the accompanying police officer.

The officer allegedly broke free from the clutches of the angry family and called the police station saying he barely escaped with his life from an axe-wielding mob.

Tempers flared when the warring families appeared at the civil court yesterday.

The in-laws refused to hand over their daughter’s death certificate to their son in law accusing him of murdering the woman.

The son in-law, John Akimu, of Magwegwe suburb, told Bulawayo magistrate Singandu Jele he was lucky to escape unhurt when his in-laws set upon him with axes.

“They beat me up on December 2 last year after I had been granted a court order to fetch my wife’s death certificate.

“The police officer that had been tasked by the court to accompany me, fled and left me at their mercy,” read Akimu’s warned and cautioned statement.

He said he was failing to register his late wife’s estate under his name because his in-laws were holding on to her death certificate.

His wife, Joyce Ndlovu, died in South Africa on July 27, 2014.

His wife’s parents, John Ndlovu and Ntombana Sibanda, also from Magwegwe, vowed not to give Akimu the death certificate because he had not paid lobola.

Ndlovu said: “Your worship, we don’t know this man because he never paid lobola. He left South Africa after our daughter’s death.

“If it means being arrested then let it be because we’ve never stolen or taken anything that belongs to him. All we have is our daughter’s death certificate and her estate”.

Ndlovu said his daughter died under bizarre circumstances.

He told the court Akimu called out of the blue, informing them of her death before dumping her body at a mortuary and fleeing the neighbouring country.

Sibanda said her family had to look for money to transport their daughter’s body home for burial without Akimu’s assistance.

“We were left with no option but to sell some property to raise the funds,” said Sibanda.

The magistrate warned Sibanda and Ndlovu that they risked arrest for defying the court order that was granted on December 2, last year.

Singandu said, “A default judgement was granted in favour of Akimu that you should give him the death certificate. There is a proper channel to settle the dispute, you should go to the legal project centre and get legal advice.”

He told them to come back on March 12, for continuation of trial.