Nuusita Ashipala
OMUSHIMANI – A 65-year-old pensioner who has endured systematic verbal and physical abuse allegedly at the hands of his wife and children has pleaded with the court to evict the vindictive wife and his three daughters from their marital home.
The pensioner hails from Omushimani village at
Akuna-iihole in the Oshana Region.
The three daughters were arrested on Sunday and charged with assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The two daughters, Magrieda Kalumbu, 32, and Liina Kalumbu, 30, were granted bail of N$1,000 each in the Ondangwa Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
The alleged instigator of the fight which erupted on Sunday, Fiina Kalumbu, also a daughter, was released by the police on a warning on Sunday because she has a few days old baby, the family related.
The Oshana police acting public relations officer Inspector Petrus Iimbili confirmed the arrest.
Fillipus David, the complainant, was also arrested on Sunday on charges of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm after Fiina laid a charge against him. He was released on bail of N$400.
Meanwhile, while the children and husband were in custody David’s wife camped with her blankets at the police station until all the warring family members were released on Tuesday.
David maintains he did not attack the daughter as alleged and was acting in self-defence after the three daughters attacked him.
David said Fiina in the company of the two sisters approached him with a panga tucked under her skirt.
David said when the daughters pounced on him he was mending his kraal with a panga in his hand that accidentally cut one of them.
“She attempted to cut me with the panga and I hit it off from her hands and it fell to the ground, but I did not cut her as she wants to claim,” David said.
He said after the panga fell from Fiina’s hands he picked it up from the ground, but stumbled and fell to the ground holding tightly on to the panga, fearing that the daughters would use it to hack him.
“While on the ground one of the children sat on my stomach and they stuffed my nose and mouth with sand while one also attempted to cut off my fingers with a sharp object so I let go of the panga,” David said as he showed the bandaged fingers.
Apart from the bandaged hand, he is also bandaged on the forehead.
The attack was seen by children who alerted their neighbours.
The neighbours New Era spoke to said they found the man covered in blood with his mouth and nose filled with sand.
They confirmed the abuse has been ongoing for years, saying that Sunday’s incident was not the first time they had to rush to David’s house.
As a result David has been eating at the neighbours as he has been neglected by his wife and his own children.