The residents of Mangarame under Chief Gampu were left shell shocked as a man from Tsholotsho fired five bullets into his wife, shouting “I’m done with you dog”. Reports say that the woman surprisingly survived and is fighting for dear life at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) while the man has vanished
It is alleged that 34 year old Ludo Dumani recently had an undisclosed domestic dispute with her husband Austin Tshuma, 40, and was forced to run away and seek refuge at her parents’ home in Mangarame area, Bulilima District.
Dumani took her three children aged 10, 13 and 15 with her.
Last Wednesday night, Tshuma followed his wife and found her sleeping in the same room with her three children and their grandmother, Zale Moyo, 64.
Tshuma forced himself into the house by breaking down the door and attacked his wife.
Dumani tried to hide under the bed, but Tshuma pushed it away and opened fire and shot her five times, then Tshuma fled from the scene leaving her wife for dead.
The village headman Marudo Ndlovu, confirmed the shooting that took place on Wednesday night as it was reported by Moyo.
Ndlovu said he rushed to Moyo’s homestead and found Dumani lying on the floor in a pool of blood and unconscious,while her three children were wailing by her side.
“I quickly called a neighbour who has a car and we ferried Dumani to Ntoli Clinic and she was then referred to Plumtree Hospital. When I arrived at the homestead Tshuma was nowhere to be seen,” Ndlovu said.
Moyo, Dumani’s mother said her daughter arrived at her home from her marriage in Tsholotsho complaining that she and her husband were always quarrelling. She never disclosed the cause of their arguments except citing that they were having marital problems
“My daughter arrived together with her three children told me that her husband had been threatening to kill her. She requested to live with me until the matter was settled,” Moyo said.
Talking about the day his daughter was shot she said his son in law arrived and banged loudly on the kitchen door.
“We woke up to the sound of banging against the kitchen door. Then there was a bang on our bedroom door a few minutes later and we asked who it was but there was no response,” said Moyo.
She said when the bedroom door was knocked down she saw her son- in-law standing there holding a gun and a torch .Moyo described the incident as a horrifying ordeal for her family, and said she tried to stop him from harming her daughter but she was pushed to the ground.
Moyo said Tshuma approached her daughter who tried to hide under a bed, but her agitated son in law threw off the bed and started firing at her.
“I assume that Tshuma believed that he had killed my daughter because after shooting at her he said ‘sengiqedile ngawe nja’ (I am done with you dog)”, narrated Moyo.
After the incident Moyo said that she had to  gather her courage to get help for her daughter whom she said is now admitted and fighting for her life at United Bulawayo Hospitals .
She described the whole incident as traumatic and terrifying especially to her grandchildren who witnessed their father brutally firing shots at their mother.