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Leonard Ncube Senior Court Reporter
A married soldier, who is embroiled in a child custody wrangle with his former girlfriend, told the court that he would not allow her keep their son because she lives in a squalid one-roomed house with her new husband.
Paul Panda Ndlovu, an army sergeant stationed in Mount Darwin said the woman, Wenzani Nkomo, 30, of Mkhosana, dragged him to court because she wanted money.

He alleged that her former girlfriend had bewitched their son, aged nine, who suddenly became epileptic when she took him a few months ago.

Ndlovu, of Rangemore, Bulawayo, has three children from his official marriage and was already married when he sired the nine-year-old boy with Nkomo, he told Victoria Falls resident magistrate Sharon Rosemani.

“The amount she is demanding is just too much. For the past four years I was staying with my son and she came to snatch him and I think she wants a source of money,” said Ndlovu.

He added: “From what I have gathered, she cannot stay with the boy because she lives in one room which has no electricity. Just a week after she took him, I heard that he was already moving around people’s houses, maybe looking for food. The husband is also a drunkard and abusive.”

Ndlovu claimed his girlfriend bewitched their son who would sometimes claim to be seeing goblins.
However, Nkomo who was demanding $150 per month for the child’s upkeep denied the allegations.

“What do you think I would do to my own son? I took him because I was told he was being abused by his stepmother who also made him fetch water using a wheelbarrow…and he had some scars on the face,” Nkomo hit out at Ndlovu.

The gunner returned fire saying: “My son likes playing wrestling.  That is how he got those scars because he was playing with other children. He does not fetch any water only he also likes playing with the  wheelbarrow.”

The soldier lost the custody battle after the magistrate ordered him to pay $70 per month starting this month.