Young mother from eMbalenhle hopes for justice and a prosthetic leg
The man who hacked off his ex-girlfriend's leg with a spade a year ago is still at large.
Nhlanhla Mtsweni (26), from eMbalenhle is petrified that her ex-boyfriend might return to finish what he began a year ago.
She needs a prosthesis after her ex-boyfriend hacked off her right leg with a spade in January last year.
He is still at large.
According to Mtsweni, her former boyfriend and father of her youngest son (2) was abusive and often assaulted her.
Mtsweni is also the mother of a six-year-old boy.
The couple lived together for three years in the man’s shack in Ext 18 before Mtsweni moved out in September 2021.
Mtsweni told Ridge Times she then met the man with whom she is still in a relationship now. She and her children share a one-room shack with him.
“My ex-boyfriend became extremely jealous when he found out that I was in a new relationship.
“He first came to my shack and assaulted me. He accused me of undermining him because I love another man. He then left me alone,” she explained.
She thought that was the end of things, but she was sorely mistaken.
“He came back to my shack one evening in January last year. He told me to accompany him to his sick brother, who lived not far from where I stay.
“I was suspicious and uneasy. Something was not quite right, but against my better judgment, I walked with him,” said Mtsweni.
“When we reached the street corner not far from my shack, he turned on me.
“He began insulting me and picked up a spade which he stabbed into my right leg, felling me to the ground.
“While I was on the ground, he said my leg had been separated, but I was in too much pain to understand what he meant. I just kept quiet.”
The attacker then moved on to Mtsweni’s other leg.
“He tried to break my other leg with the spade but was scared off by the lights of an oncoming car.”
As the car approached, Mtsweni’s ex-boyfriend fled.
The motorist noticed the injured woman and called an ambulance and the police. She was rushed to Evander Hospital, where doctors managed to save her left foot. Her right leg, however, was severed just below the knee.
The police and the community scoured the township for the culprit, but he was never found. Word spread that he had fled to his home in Zimbabwe.
It took months for Mtsweni to recover from her physical injuries. The psychological wounds would take even longer.
Mtsweni believes her ex-boyfriend wanted to kill her that night, and if the car had not come along, she would have been murdered.
“Even after he disappeared, he kept calling and threatening to kill my children and me.”
The attack has left Mtsweni disabled and unable to work to support her children. She uses crutches to move about and hopes to one day have a prosthetic leg to be more mobile.
“No one will employ me now. A prosthesis is the last hope for my situation.
“I wish for my children to have a better shelter and to live better.
“I also wish the police arrest my attacker and justice is served,” said Mtsweni.
