A BULAWAYO man beat up his wife and chased her from their matrimonial home after finding her cooling off under a shade in only her bikini, reports said.
Vincent Shoko, 28, accused his wife of “basking in the glory of being a spectacle” after boys from the neighbourhood in the working-class suburb of Nkulumane climbed on walls to catch a glimpse of her stunning figure.
Shoko told The Sunday News it was not the first time his wife had disrobed for a healthy dose of sunshine.
“Any man in my shoes would have reacted the same way that I did,” moaned Shoko. “This is not the first time that she has done it, last time I warned her to stop doing it but she chose not to listen. So I had to beat her to knock some sense back into her head.”
Shoko insists he did not chase her from their home but she left to live with her parents in the plush neighbourhood of Selbourne Park.
For her part, Rejoice Shoko accused her husband of being a hypocrite.
She told the Sunday News: “In winter, we used to sunbathe together, today he claims that he has a problem with that. He should grow up and stop being a hypocrite.
“There is nothing indecent about that because a very tall brick wall surrounds our house. In fact, those boys were violating my privacy by climbing on the wall to peep on me, if I did not have a good understanding I could have taken them to court.”
Rejoice says she could have taken her husband “to the cleaners” for the assault on her “were it not for the fact that I love him”.
She adds: “But as long as he does not show remorse for his actions, I am staying put at my parents’ home. He should promise to never beat me again because I was not married to be a punching bag. My parents support my decision because they do not want me to be hurt.”
A parent of one of the teenage boys accused of eyeing up their neighbour’s wife said: “Boys will be boys and Mrs Shoko should have been more careful. This is not a low-density suburb where she can afford the luxury of sleeping naked. This is a high-density suburb with small yards and as such most things are not that private.
“If she wants to walk around naked in her yard, then she should be prepared to accept that now and then people are going to see her."