An angry woman who was turned away at her ex-lover’s home in KZN has admitted throwing acid in his face.
|||Durban - An angry woman who was turned away at her ex-lover’s home on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast has admitted throwing acid in his face.
Precious Khuzwayo, 25, of oThongathi, said on Sunday she was infuriated with the father of her two children, Xolani Ndlovu, who had forced her to sleep at a police station when she went to see him to collect school transport money.
Last week she had travelled to his home in Hambanathi, on the outskirts of oThongathi, with their two young children and, because it was late, had wanted to spend the night there.
Ndlovu, 29, a taxi conductor, said Khuzwayo had demanded to sleep over at his house even though she knew he had a new girlfriend who did not approve. He said she ultimately spent the night at the local police station.
“I then called her the following morning to find out if she was okay and if the kids were okay because she chose to spend the night at the police station with the kids even though I told her to leave them at my place.”
He said he later went to see her.
“When she was walking in my direction I could see that she had a 500ml bottle and I initially dismissed it as juice,” he said from his bed at Osindisweni Hospital in Verulam, where he is recovering.
“I thought things were okay between us after what happened the previous night.”
Ndlovu said he then saw the lid fall to the ground and was shocked when his ex-girlfriend flung the contents of the bottle at him.
“I felt a burning sensation covering the left side of my face, my arm and part of my torso and knew then that I was in trouble,” he said.
He described the pain caused by the burning as something he had never experienced before. Ndlovu said he was helped by a bystander, who acted quickly by pouring water on to him to try to alleviate the pain. He was later taken to hospital.
Khuzwayo admitted to drenching Ndlovu with the sulphuric acid, saying he had it coming. “Xolani is lying. I spoke to him leading up to the day of the incident and he knew that he needed to give me money for our child’s school transport and he agreed to meet me and give me the money,” she said.
Khuzwayo said Ndlovu wanted her to sleep over at his house but was afraid this might compromise his new relationship.
“I arrived there in the evening and met his new girlfriend and I wasn’t worried about it,” she said. “All I wanted was the child’s transport money and wanted to leave, but it was late and there weren’t any taxi for me to leave.”
Khuzwayo said Ndlovu’s new partner suggested that she leave the children, aged six and three, but she refused because she didn’t want another woman taking care of her children. “That’s when I left the house,” she said.
“Some of the neighbours offered me a place to rest my head but I have relatives around the area and I wanted to find them but couldn’t because of how late it was.
“Some lady took me to the police station because I was walking around with my children and it was late.
“He (Ndlovu) then called me in the morning and wanted us to meet at the (taxi) rank, at which point I was livid and took one of the bottles of sulphuric which I sell for R10 and poured it on him.”
Ndlovu said he would not be laying criminal charges against Khuzwayo in the interest of protecting their children, who witnessed the attack.
Daily News