Jealous boyfriend burns girlfriend’s house, clothes
PIGG’S PEAK – It was a ‘house on fire’ for residents of Mangwaneni yesterday midnight but they were not impressed.
*Jomo allegedly burnt a one-room stick-and-mud house that he shared with his girlfriend *Jackie after a disagreement. The incident is said to have happened on Friday around midnight. Jomo is said to have burnt the house and allegedly fled from the scene.
It is alleged that Jomo had an argument with his girlfriend, whom he is alleged to have been looking for since Friday morning. It is also alleged that Jomo is employed at one of the electricity contractors. Before the fire, Jomo is said to have been enjoying some alcoholic beverages at a bar in Pigg’s Peak. It is alleged he eventually caught up with his girlfriend at one of the watering holes.
According to acquaintances to the couple, Jomo is said to have been with his girlfriend and that they had an argument. They said Jomo was angry after seeing a man whom he knew wearing a tracksuit similar to the one Jackie had. He is alleged to have continued arguing with his girlfriend about the tracksuit and did not reach an agreement .
HEADED
Jomo then left the bar and headed towards the house, which is around Mangwaneni area. It is situated about a kilometre away from the bar. Upon arriving at the house, Jomo is said to have spent some time inside while his girlfriend’s seven-year-old daughter was asleep. According to a neighbour, Jomo was inside the house for some time before the house was burnt. The neighbour said Jomo kept exiting the house as if checking how many peosaid ple were there. In Mangwaneni, the houses are built very close to each other such that Jomo was able to see that his neighbour, who is a spiritual healer (umthantazi) had visitors who had arrived for assistance.
*Gama, who is the healer said there were so many people who had arrived to seek assistance and that this made Jomo uncomfortable as he seemed to be in a hurry to do something. He said at around midnight,
Jomo is said to have asked him for some matches while his girlfriend’s daughter was sleeping.
“I told him that whatever he wants to do in the house, he must make sure that the young girl is not there,” said Gama. He said it was after this conversation that Jomo woke his girlfriend’s daughter up, and took her to her grandmother’s house. This is said to have happened at around midnight.
Jomo is then said to have returned to the house and allegedly set it on fire before fleeing. The one-room house is also attached to another, where an elderly man was sleeping. However, the elderly man’s room did not burn .
The elderly man said he only realised that the house was on fire when he noticed a lot of smoke.
According to the neighbour ,fire and emergency personnel arrived promptly to put out the fire though most of the items inside had been destroyed. They did not find Jackie at the house but at the time, some of the residents around feared that Jackie’s daughter had been burnt inside the house. A search by the fire emergency personnel ensued, checking through the ashes hoping to find remains of a girl but it turned out that she had been taken away.