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The Unofficial Domestic Violence Pages |
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Page 4 |
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Wife-beater gets jail Another KwaZulu-Natal magistrate has come down hard on a wife abuser, jailing an Umzinto man for six years for twice assaulting his wife.This comes in the wake of Durban regional court magistrate Anand Maharaj imposing five years on a Durban man for contravening a domestic violence order - believed to be the highest sentence ever given for such a crime. Maharaj also sentenced Ubeidullah Suresh Khan to a further 10 years for attempting to murder his estranged wife Venessa by throwing petrol on her and setting her alight. This week in the Umzinto magistrate's court, a tragic tale of abuse was played out in the case of Jabulani Nxumalo, 38, who lives in an informal settlement near the south coast town with his common-law-wife Sibongile Happiness Xele and their three young children. Nxumalo was convicted on two counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. The court found that on January 7 this year, Nxumalo had stabbed his wife through her lip, leaving a gaping wound which required numerous stitches. He says she was drunk and he was "scolding her". She says she was challenging him about other girlfriends. She did not lay a charge until two days later when he came back home "laughing, smiling and apologising". She told him to leave and that is when he hit her with a iron pipe in her ribs. It was one hard blow, the court heard, which left her with internal injuries. Both attacks took place in front of their children, the eldest being 10 and the youngest nine months. Evidence before the court was that Sibongile Xele had previously laid charges against Nxumalo six times, but had withdrawn them every time because she relied on his disability pension to support herself and the children. This time, she told the court, she wanted to proceed with the charges."I fear for my life - this will be the man who kills me," she said.Passing sentence, Magistrate Asheena Bacharan said the crime was a serious one. "There is no point in having legislation protecting women if, ultimately, they are not being protected - this woman is extremely fearful. "It is time the right message goes out that this type of crime will not be tolerated," the magistrate said, imposing the maximum sentence permitted by a district court for such a crime. Speaking after the hearing, Sibongile Xele said while she was happy with the sentence, and felt safer now, she was concerned about who would support her and her children.
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