Man told ‘son is  not yours’ hangs self Thobekile Moyo
Thobekile Moyo

Thobekile Moyo

Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
A MAN from Victoria Falls allegedly committed suicide after his wife told him he was not the father of a boy, 6, whom he thought was their son.

Neighbours told The Chronicle Thembelani Nyathi, 33, had a fallout with his wife Thobekile Moyo, 30, on Saturday when she allegedly told him in anger that the boy was not his.

He allegedly went missing the same day.

A search team comprising police, rangers from Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and Chinotimba residents found his body hanging from a tree with a strand of wire on the neck on Tuesday afternoon in a bush near Masue River in Victoria Falls.

Nyathi was well known for selling floor polish and detergents in the resort town.

Police officer commanding Victoria Falls District Chief Superintendent Jairos Chiwona said: “We can confirm that we’re investigating a case in which somebody allegedly committed suicide after a domestic dispute.”

Moyo said it was untrue she had argued with her husband over their son’s paternity.

“He started recklessly spending the little money that we get from our business. On Saturday he prepared food while I was at work and he left soon after eating and that’s the last time we saw him,” said Moyo as she struggled to contain tears.

She narrated how her husband had, since January, started drinking heavily.

“On Monday, March 14, he was dead drunk. He asked our six-year-old son “umama uyake akutshele ukuthi wena wakuwula awusuye mntanami? (Has your mother ever told you that you were born out of prostitution, you’re not my son?)”

She said the boy fled and hid behind her, seeing that his dad was becoming violent.

“He turned on our nine-year-old daughter who was doing her homework. He snatched her book and tore it up,” said Moyo.

“He left the house and came back around midnight and started shouting again. I reminded him that we had been given notice to vacate the house by the landlord because of his behaviour,” added Moyo.

She said she went to the police station to seek a protection order, and was still processing the papers when her husband took his life.

“When he saw the affidavits he said to me ‘you’re completing those papers for a dead person.’ I didn’t understand what he meant. He ordered the children to look at him closely saying they were seeing him for the last time.

“I narrated all this to the police at the Chinotimba Police Base that my husband wanted to kill himself but they said it was not possible for one to tell people that he wants to kill himself,” she said.

Asked about the alleged infidelity, Moyo said: “I don’t know why he spoke like that because it was the first time he said it. When I conceived in 2009 we were still staying in Nyamandlovu and he never doubted he was the father.”

Mehluli Moyo, in whose house the couple stayed, said the couple had marital problems. “They always had misunderstandings and on Thursday my daughter told me that Nyathi had been bidding goodbye to his children telling them he was going to die. We reported to the police while I also dissuaded him from doing so,” he said.

Chief Supt Chiwona advised members of the public to seek counselling instead of taking their lives, when they have problems.

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