A 26-year-old Bulawayo woman escaped death by a whisker after her jealous ex-husband allegedly doused her and her son and the room they were sleeping in with petrol and set them alight before running away from the scene.

The publication has learned that Ms. Lecia Nyoni miraculously managed to escape from her burning bedroom and rescued her four-year-old son after her ex-husband  Sindiso Siziba aged 33 tried to burn them alive.

The incident is reported to have occurred at around 10 PM on Thursday last week at the woman’s rented house in New Lobengula suburb. Luckily, both of them managed to escape unscathed. However, her bed, linen, clothes, and shoes all valued at R10 000 was destroyed by the fire.

Nyoni alleges that her ex-husband opened the window from the outside and poured petrol into the room. When she woke up the house was already in flames but she managed to escape with her son.

“I was sleeping with my four-year-old son when I felt some fluid flowing down my body. Upon waking up I smelt petrol and within minutes the entire room was in flames and immediately I grabbed my son and stormed out of the room and screamed for help,” she said.

After she had managed to escape from the burning flames, she alerted the neighbors who quickly came to her rescue.

“After the incident, Siziba fled from the scene and he was carrying the fuel container with him. One of the neighbors managed to catch up with Siziba and they wrestled until he managed to subdue him. They apprehended him and took him to the police station leading to his arrest,” she said.

Nyoni says she is still can’t comprehend that her ex-husband is the one who was trying to set them alight as she initially thought it was a thief.

“I don’t even know why my ex-husband resorted to doing such an evil thing despite that we have both moved on and its two years now since we parted ways, ” said Nyoni.

Nyoni is still traumatized and struggling to come to terms with what transpired on the day. She says ever since she discovered that Siziba was remanded out of custody on a $1 000 bail on attempted murder charges she is now having nightmares and is struggling to sleep at night as she fears that he might come back again and finish her off.

“We are no longer comfortable in this house as we suspect that Siziba could return to finish me after failing to achieve his mission in the first attempt. It is quite shocking for the courts to release such a dangerous criminal,” said Ms Nyoni.