Doctor who ran amok appears in court
By Staff Reporter
BULAWAYO doctor Nkonzo Ndebele who is facing criminal charges of violating a protection order after going on the rampage last week and threatening to kill his estranged wife Grace Ndlovu over disputed property, appeared at the Bulawayo Magistrates Court on Wednesday and was remanded out of custody on $50 bail.
The case will resume on 10 February.
The state case is that Ndebele violated two clauses of the protection order that enjoin him to “desist from abusing applicant (Ndlovu) verbally, emotionally or psychologically” and “refrain from conducting himself in a violent manner towards applicant.”
The order was granted on 29 May in 2013. The case arises from Ndebele’s drunken and violent conduct on Saturday the 17th of the this month when he stormed Ndlovu’s pub in the Central Business District threatening to kill her if she did not surrender what he claimed to be his father’s refrigerator.
Ndebele had earlier approached Ndlovu at the pub in that afternoon around three o’clock and threatened to kill her if she did not surrender to him the refrigerator which is presently the subject of a court decision as the couple are going through divorce proceedings which will also determine who gets which property.
He poked her in the ribs in full view of this reporter and other patrons and threatening “I will shoot you through the heart, jump over your dead body and collect my property.”
He returned that evening and demanded that the employees call Ndlovu who had already left to come to the pub.
“The doctor who looked extremely intoxicated ordered bemused employees to “call Grace now” before picking up some beer bottles from the tables and smashing them against the walls. The employees locked themselves in the cashier’s area from where they called Ndlovu- something which only served to infuriate Ndebele further,” said one patron.
However, Ndebele who was represented by lawyer Hlabezulu Malinga of Job Sibanda and Associates denied charges of contempt of court arising out of violating the protection order that was granted to Grace Ndlovu.
Called over into the witness box, the doctor initially sat down before a prison officer motioned to him to stand. Malinga successfully argued that Ndebele be granted bail because among other things, he is unlikely to interfere with state witnesses since all investigations into the matter have been concluded.
Ndlovu sat alone and observed proceedings from the public gallery, looking somewhat sombre and subdued throughout. Efforts to obtain comment from her or Ndebele were futile as both immediately went their separate ways once the court finished proceedings.
