THE old adage that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned played out in Mutare’s Dangamvura high density suburb where a Zimbabwe Republic Police officer was last week left with horrific burns after his wife poured a jug of boiled water over his head and back after a misunderstanding on an alleged misused bank loan.The shocking incident happened recently at house number 193 Area B, in Dangamvura. The dispute between Blessing Mukombe, a Nyanga based police officer and his wife Maria Lannie, a first year student at Marymoumt Teachers’ College, is understood to have erupted after the former failed to account for a bank loan he had secured without the knowledge of his wife.
Mukombe is a devout member of The Salvation Army Church and son to former Salvation Army Dangamvura Corps sergeant major.
Efforts to interview Mukombe were fruitless. However, according to a neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Lannie went to the bank on the day in question and figured out that her husband owed the bank more than $2 000.
“They met at Shoe Discount shop in Mutare where Lannie started shouting at Mukombe, threatening to kill their two children.
“Knowing his wife’s behaviour from their previous misunderstandings, Mukombe rushed home to secure his children from their angry mother but when Lannie got home, she quietly boiled water on a gas stove.
“Mukombe thought she had calmed down and relaxed. “He got more than his expectations when Lannie called him and spilled the hot water over his head and back. His brothers quickly came to his rescue and ferried him to PSMAS clinic for treatment.
“Otherwise he would have been dead by now,” said the neighbour.
Police refused to divulge circumstances leading to the ghastly incident.
“I am not getting any breakthrough. Police in Dangamvura are saying they do not have such a case,” said Manicaland police spokesperson Inspector Tavhiringwa Kakohwa.
However, this newspaper understands that a police report was made, leading to Lannie’s arrest.
She is on remand awaiting trial, on January 6.-Manicapost