In a shocking case, a Murewa man allegedly beat his wife to death after she had tried to divorce him. All this happened while his mother-in-law watched helplessly through the window.

Reports indicate that Ideni Nyashanu (43) of Chitsa Village under Chief Mangwende has since gone on the run after brutally murdering his wife of 20 years, Pedzisai Tavengwa.

According to the police report, the couple had a fractious relationship because Nyashanu suspected his wife of cheating and would repeatedly abuse her physically and verbally.

After noting that the situation was not improving, Tavengwa reported the abuse to her mother who then visited the couple in an effort to mediate and counsel the two.

However, the meeting did not go as well as planned and degenerated to the extent that Tavengwa decided to divorce Nyashanu and leave with her mother.

Tavengwa went to the couple’s bedroom where she started packing her clothes so that she could leave with her mom. This did not go down well with her husband who followed her into the room and locked the door from the inside. Nyashanu then armed himself with a four-pound hammer and started indiscriminately attacking his wife.

Tavengwa’s mother tried to come to her aid, but unfortunately, she could not open the door which was locked from the inside. Having failed to open the door, the distraught mother-in-law destroyed the window panes in the bedroom and watched helplessly as her daughter was being brutally attacked.

The mother-in-law then rushed to the police to file a complaint against Nyashanu. During that time, Nyashanu opened the door and disappeared, leaving his now-deceased wife in a pool of blood.

He is yet to be apprehended and the police are pleading for information which can lead to his arrest.