BY TREVOR MUTSVAIRO URBAN grooves musician Desmond Chideme (41) has denied he assaulted his estranged wife Dione Tafirenyika after a musical show at Harare’s Rainbow Towers.
It is alleged that on April 10 at around 0200 hours, after Stunner had performed at a concept headlined by South African rapper Focalistic at the Rainbow Towers Hotel, his wife went to the bathroom where Stunner followed and demanded her cellphone. After failing to get the cellphone, he reportedly slapped her several times leading her to reporting the matter to Harare Central Police.
Appearing before Harare Magistrate Evelyn Mushavakure on Wednesday, Chideme, instead, claimed that Tafirenyika cooked up the assault allegations to conceal her infidelity.
Chideme’s lawyer Dumisani Mutombeni told the court that the charges against his client are false and an afterthought because complainant was caught cheating with another man twice by the accused about two weeks before the Rainbow Towers Show.
The defence insisted that Chideme could not have assaulted the complainant because there were a lot of people present at the hotel who could have video-taped the incident or the hotel security could have intervened.
Mutombeni queried why Tafirenyika did not scream for help when she was assaulted.
Responding during the cross examination Tafirenyika said Chideme has a volatile temper and had she screamed, it would have worsened the situation.
“No one came to help me, it was around 2 AM. I did not scream for help because I didn’t want to cause unnecessary attention. I have been in the situation before. Had screamed, it would have fueled his anger,” Tafirenyika said.
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The defence argued that the complainant refused to be medically examined because she knew that her lies would be exposed. Tafirenyika, however, told the court that she was not feeling any severe pain at the time.
The court also heard that Tafirenyika did not submit the blood-stained clothes as evidence to the police since she thought it was unnecessary.
“Again no blood-stained clothes were ever shown to the police. This was a poorly choreographed story by someone who thought of a quick exit plan which would portray her as a victim after realising accused was dumping her for good,” Mutombeni said.
The matter was deferred to June 30 for trial continuation.
