We’re going to die in this car today! Those were the words of a husband who, after allegedly being caught cheating on his wife with the maid, attempted suicide with his pregnant wife in the car.
Bulawayo residents were treated to a free movie on Wednesday around 8 a.m. when Desire Charingeni and his wife Edith Mutanda got into an epic fight in a speeding car that swerved off the road and seriously injured a pedestrian.
The Parklands couple fought all the way from their house until their Honda Fit car crashed at the intersection of 25th Avenue and Matopos Road.
Velaphi Zhou, an assistant builder who was taking a walk while awaiting delivery of cement for a project he was working on, sustained a fractured shin when the car hit him as it hurtled towards a precast wall that it destroyed before coming to a stop.
Bewildered residents rushed to the vehicle which was stuck in the wall and found the warring couple still throwing verbal barbs at each other.
Witnesses said Charingeni- who was later stretchered off to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) complaining of back pain- claimed his wife had grabbed the steering, forcing him off the road.
Matanda hotly disputed the accusation saying Charingeni had threatened to deliberately crash the vehicle after she demanded divorce.
“I didn’t touch the steering. He said he once had an accident in the car but this time he would make sure we die in the second one,” said an emotional Matanda.
“After dropping our child off at school, we had agreed to go to (Bulawayo) Central Police (Station) to get assistance with a divorce. He has been sleeping with the maid,” she said.
She said her husband floored the accelerator as he threatened to end their lives, resulting in the scary accident.
Matanda, who was sitting on a lawn alongside one of the houses when the B-Metro crew arrived, appeared overcome with despair. She had begun venting her rage on the news crew when she was stopped by a suspected relative.
The car was still stuck in the wall when Charingeni and Dube were taken to UBH.
Inspector Abedinico Ncube, a Bulawayo Police spokesperson, could only confirm the crash yesterday.
“Circumstances are that the first party was driving due South along Matopos Road when he failed to keep his vehicle under control and veered off the road to the right side resulting in him hitting the second party who was walking due south. The first party then ran into a brick wall.
Charingeni has been charged with careless driving, and his vehicle has been towed to the Vehicle Inspection Depot (VID).
In other news…
Doctor who raised another man’s child for 11 years sues ex-lover for US$163,000
A doctor who paid maintenance for a child for 11 years is suing his ex-lover for US$163,000 after learning that the child is not his.
A pathologist from Bulawayo named Dr. Roger Kruger Hendrick Chigangacha has sued Natasha Popova Sibanda in the High Court to get his money back for tricking him into caring for another man’s child.
Chigangacha was not the father of the kid, according to…read more
