Wife accused of burning husband to death

Tsitsi Matope
Maseru

A 34-year-old woman reportedly poured boiling water over her sleeping husband who then died hours later at a local hospital where some neighbours had rushed him to on Monday night.

The fatal assault happened at a certain flat (name withheld) situated in the Maseru Central Business District.
According to the District Commissioner for Maseru Urban Police, Senior Superintendent Mofokeng Kolo, the wife turned herself in at the Central Police Station soon after the attack.

“After she reported the case, some officers rushed with the woman to the scene of crime and discovered the injured man had already been taken to hospital.
“A few hours later, we received a report that the 44-year-old man had died from the severe burns he had sustained all over his body,” Kolo said.

The police are still to question the wife who is said to have packed all her belongings and left the flat to stay with relatives in Mazenod after the assault, Kolo added.
“On Thursday, some police officers followed-up in Mazenod but unfortunately, they could not interview her because she appeared very depressed and lacking the mental capacity to make a sensible statement. In a case like this, we will need the help of a psychiatrist to help us determine her mental capacity. We suspect the news of her husband’s death might have triggered her current condition,” Kolo said, adding investigations were at an advanced stage.
“Our homicide officers have already collected some pieces of flesh found on the bed, believed to be that of the deceased, as evidence. This exhibit will be tested and presented in court upon completion of the investigation.”

Kolo also said the police are in the process of analysing other evidence and information received from various witnesses.
“This is not an open-and-shut case. We need to substantiate the motive of the killing which, at the moment, is proving difficult because of the wife’s mental state. “We cannot solely rely on the information received from mainly the wife’s family. We are still to engage with the deceased’s family, which is based in Mafeteng.”

However, he said preliminary investigations had shown the couple was constantly having disagreements, which sometimes led to vicious fights.
“Some neighbours and some members of the wife’s family have confirmed the violent nature of the marriage and indicated that as a result, the wife had shown
signs of depression.

We are not yet taking this information as fact because we still want to substantiate it with either the wife, other close relatives from the deceased family and of great importance, a psychiatric report.”

Police have also recovered a large pot, which the wife said she had used to boil the water she later poured on her unsuspecting husband.

Meanwhile, Kolo said the couple’s six-year-old son, who was sleeping next to his father, also sustained burns on one of his arms during the attack and is currently receiving treatment.