In what is believed to be another tragic example of gender-based violence in Vhembe, a 40-year-old man was arrested by Mutale police for allegedly stabbing his girlfriend to death. The fatal stabbing occurred on 9 March at around 17:30 at Thengwe Tshidongololwe village in the Mutale area.
Vhembe police spokesperson Captain Vuledzani Dathi said that after being notified of the woman’s death, officers travelled to the scene. Upon arrival, they were shown the room where the body of a naked woman lay on a bed, with a blanket covering her stab wounds.
The deceased was identified by her mother as 40-year-old Nelly Nevhulamba, a single mother of four children. Her mother said Nevhulamba had left home the previous Saturday to attend a stokvel in the village and did not return.
Dathi said information received revealed that the deceased had been seen with her boyfriend at an eating house in the village, after which they went to the house where Nevhulamba was later found dead.
The suspect was traced and arrested on Friday, 13 March. He appeared in the Mutale Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 16 March, in absentia, as he was receiving treatment in a local hospital. Police investigations are ongoing, and he had yet to appear physically in court at the time of going to press.
Nevhulamba was buried in Tshidongololwe village on Saturday, 14 March.
Ms Tali Maano, the younger sister of the deceased, said the family was still reeling from the tragedy.
“We are also worried. The local police in Mutale are not working well with us as the family,” she said, adding that the suspect had been roaming the streets for several days before his arrest.