Times Of Swaziland: MAGISTRATE BEAT ME - WIFE

MAGISTRATE BEAT ME - WIFE
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By Eswatini News Reporter on 26/10/2019 00:14:00


MBABANE – A principal magistrate allegedly assaulted his wife after she
confronted him about bringing a woman to their house overnight.
The wife is currently admitted at the Mbabane Clinic after she sustained
injuries to the head, eye and mouth.
It was said she was in the house, already asleep when the magistrate, who has
worked in Mbabane and Manzini before, arrived at the house at night.
“The wife and the magistrate had been sleeping in separate bedrooms for a
while when this incident happened,” said a source.
The Eswatini News gathered that the presence of the magistrate’s girlfriend
was noted in the morning just before the wife left for work with the children,
whom she was to drop at school.
Shocked
“Apparently, one of the children went via the magistrate’s bedroom to say
goodbye to him and that is when he found him with the woman.”
The source said the child ran to notify the magistrate’s wife, who was already
in the car.
“The child seemed to be too shocked, despite that the magistrate and the woman
did not see him enter the room as they were fast asleep. When he reported to his
mother he said his father was in bed with a woman he did not know. He even
described that the woman was wearing a pink bra,” the source elaborated.
The newspaper learnt that out of anger, the wife alighted and went into the
house where she confronted her husband on why he had brought his alleged
girlfriend to the house.
The confrontation did not last long as the wife was rushing to work.
It was gathered that after dropping her children at school, she headed for work
and only returned to the house after 8pm, together with the children who had
allegedly refused to be picked by their normal transport after school.
The sources who are related to the wife said upon arrival, the magistrate
requested the children and the house maid to excuse them as he wanted to have a
discussion with his wife in private .
“It was then that an argument erupted and he started assaulting her. The
children and the helper responded to the screams they heard and rescued her.
That is how she managed to  escape,” the relative alleged.
She allegedly ran to hide at a neighbour’s place where she then  called the
police who eventually arrived after a few hours and rushed her to hospital.
The wife was visited  by Eswatini  News team at the hospital with intention to
get her side of the story.
Assaulted
She only confirmed that she was assaulted by her husband but refused to narrate
how the incident occurred, saying she had already told everything to the police.
“The police are working on the matter,” she said.
When this team arrived, she was in the company of her relatives and workmates
who also held a brief prayer service, wishing her a speedy recovery.
Effort to get comment from the principal magistrate proved futile as his
cellphone rang unanswered.
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile
Vilakati confirmed the matter.
She said both the wife and the magistrate arrived at the Mbabane Police Station
where they recorded statements separately.
“They two came separately and independently gave their versions of the
incident. We have not made any arrests yet but we are actively investigating the
matter,” she said.
According to the Judicial Code of Ethics, a booklet that was compiled at the
time of former Chief Justice Richard Banda, judicial officers are members of a
profession in which the people of a country must have trust, and people will
rightly not have much trust in a Judiciary which does not know how to behave.
“Sir Henry went on to state that Judicial Officers are accountable to the
societies they serve and that if Judicial Officers’ conduct falls below
acceptable standards, the people are entitled to inquire whether the Judicial
Officers are fit to be judges or magistrates,” Banda stated in the preamble.
Comply
In Part IV (8) (3) under Integrity, the code reads: “A judicial officer should
at all times comply with the law of the land. This includes both rules that are
applicable to the judicial officer’s office and to the judicial officer’s
extra judicial conduct.”
This reporter reliably gathered that the principal magistrate’s wife also
approached attorneys regarding her husband as she intends filing a certain
application with the High Court.
When reached for comment, the lawyer representing her, Thami Ndlovu, declined to
discuss the matter, citing lawyer/client confidentiality.
He did confirm though that he was representing her.