Mbabane – A heated confrontation over an undisclosed illness accusation ended in court after a married man assaulted his wife, earning himself a protection order from the court.
The protection order issued restrains the accused from making contact with his wife.
The accused appeared on Thursday before Principal Magistrate Fikile Nhlabatsi charged with contravening Section 77 (1)(a) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act, 2018, after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife by slapping her twice on the face.
The couple had been in a tense domestic dispute which led to the accused confronting his wife of having infected him with an unspecified illness. During court proceedings, the illness was not disclosed, however, the accused said they both went to get tested and treated for it at a pharmacy.
At the pharmacy, the accused narrated, they went for blood tests. However, the accused, as he told the court, stepped out of the pharmacy to grab something to eat as he had been hungry at the time. He said he left before the results were out. Upon returning later, he said, his wife claimed to have already seen the results and planned to skip sharing them with him. The accused said it confirmed his suspicions that his wife was having extramarital affairs.
Back at home, accusations started flying.
“You infected me with such an illness. What will they say I have?” the accused reportedly shouted before it got to physical violence.
The accused told the court that he thought that they had solved their misunderstanding for it to reach court. He said this was because his wife later called him, suggesting that they should talk and try to rekindle their marriage.
The court said that was not the crime but the assault case. Principal Magistrate Fikile Nhlabatsi said she found the assault unjustifiable, Nhlabatsi further reminded the accused that violence has no place in resolving relationship conflicts, emphasizing that “love is not proven through aggression but through respect and communication.”
Moreover, the accused was sentenced to pay a fine of E5000 or face a five years imprisonment term in default. He was warned not to commit a similar offense towards his wife.
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