A MUTARE woman is devastated after coming back to her parents’ house, only to find out that it has been turned into a brothel by her sister and niece.
Emmanuela Mutaka appeared before Mutare magistrate, Mr Xavier Chipato, applying for a protection order against her sister, Mercy Mutaka and her niece, Lucia Mutaka.
Lucia and Mercy were both in default.
Emmanuela said her sister and her daughter were harassing her for refusing to bless their actions of using the family house as a brothel.
“They harass me for asking them why they are abusing our inheritance. Mercy is my sister, while Lucia is my sister’s daughter. Lucia has over the years been staying at the family house. They both accused me of killing my parents for money enhancing rituals,” she said.
Emmanuela added: “I never had a child and that is why my husband divorced me. I had to come back home and face all this humiliation. I am reminded of my barrenness by a child I helped to raise and it hurts. I did not choose to be barren. She also said that I am the one who divorced my husband. They say I left him because I wanted freedom and to enjoy myself.”
She said at times, Mercy team up with her daughter, Lucia, to insult her.
“Mercy teams up with Lucia to insult me in the presence of her friends. Lucia is very disrespectful as she also insults me in front of her four children who have different fathers.
“They also invite their friends to humiliate me. They gang up to insult me. I am always in tears. I thought my parents’ house could be my sanctuary, but it is now my torture chamber,” said Emmanuela.
Emmanuela also said Lucia is using the house as a brothel and charges US$3 for a session.
“I am now used to seeing sex workers at every corner of the house. The women can have sex even in the toilet, the lounge and at times on my bed. They force me to sleep on the floor while hearing noise from their sexual encounters. Used condoms are strewn all over the house. I do not have anyone to turn to,” she said.
Mr Chipato granted the protection order in Emmanuela’s favour.
He said the order will be valid for a lifetime.
The order also bars the respondents from using the house as a brothel.