HIV+ hubby kills wife

PIGG’S PEAK – Her decision to leave her husband on Women’s Day after enduring being assaulted by him during their time together was not enough to save her life.

Four days after she had left, he tracked her to her parental home where he stabbed her more than six times while she was asleep with her daughter. He later committed suicide by hanging himself in a nearby bush.   
This was after she had refused him sex without a condom.

The incident happened in the early hours of yesterday at Malanda, situated in the outskirts of Pigg’s Peak.
The couple, according to relatives and church members, had been engulfed in problems after going for an HIV test at the local clinic. The wife tested negative while the husband tested positive.

A marriage counsellor, Dumsile Ndlovu, confirmed that the two had gone for an HIV test but would not be drawn to comment on their results.  According to relatives, the problems started after they had gone for the test.
“They were told during counselling at the clinic that they would have to use a condom each time they engaged in sexual intercourse, but the husband would have none of it. She would refuse to have sex with him if he did not use a condom and he would beat her up.

“Other times when she refused him sex, he would call his ex-girlfriend whom he had a child with and tell her how much he missed her just to spite his wife and make her jealous,” the relatives said.
After weeks of enduring this torture, the wife then approached their church for assistance.

The counselling process in church started but the beatings continued at home until she decided she had had enough and on Women’s Day, she left.              
Four days later he walked over seven kilometres, from Luhlangotsini to Malanda, her parental home, in the middle of the night arriving after 2am, where he broke into the house she was sleeping in.

“I was disturbed by screams of a woman shouting ‘sisi ngaze ngafa’ (I am dying sister). When I went to check what was happening, I found him stabbing her. I tried to hold him, but he pushed me away and started stabbing me too. I was stabbed in the head. Luckily, I managed to escape from the house and rushed to a nearby homestead where I called for help,” said Ncobile Dlamini, sister to the deceased.

Dlamini said neighbours responded to her screams for help but when they got to the house, she found her sister lying in a pool of blood by the door while the husband was no where to be found.  
“There was blood everywhere and I could not believe what had just happened,” said Dlamini.
Police were called to the scene and a search party for the husband was commissioned.

Residents and police searched the whole night after a suicide note, apparently left by the husband, was found at their home.
He was found about four hours later dangling from a tree.  
In the suicide note, he apologised for his actions and left instructions on what should happen to his children. Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) Superintendent Vusi Masuku confirmed the incident. He said the matter is being investigated by the Pigg’s Peak police.
* Names of the deceased have been deliberately withheld because of the HIV status of the husband.