According to a neighbour of the couple who spoke to CITE on the condition of anonymity, a heated argument was heard from the couple’s flat around 10 PM.

Meluleki was reportedly confronting his wife over a phone number he had found on her phone. Said the source:

The argument started around 10 PM. The husband demanded answers about a number he had seen on his wife’s phone.

An hour later, she fell from the window of their flat, landing on the ground below. She broke her leg and sustained other injuries. She was taken to hospital, but sadly, she died yesterday afternoon.

Acting Bulawayo Police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele confirmed the incident. She said:

Police confirm the arrest of Meluleki Ndlovu a male adult aged 44 of Burombo flats Bulawayo in connection with a murder case of his wife Siphiwe Ndlovu a female adult aged 33.

According to Msebele, Meluleki assaulted Siphiwe inside their locked flat. To escape, she stepped onto a sofa and jumped out of the window. She added:

She fell and landed on her stomach whilst still holding keys to the house in her right hand. She sustained a fractured right leg, swollen stomach and was bleeding from the nose and mouth.

A neighbour who saw her falling took the keys from the now deceased’s hand and unlocked the door for the accused to come out.

Upon realising that the now deceased was injured, the accused person called an ambulance and took her to Mpilo Central Hospital where she was admitted in a serious condition.

The deceased’s aunt, Patience Phiri, told the Chronicle that the family faced financial hardship, as both the husband and wife were unemployed. She said:

Meluleki was self-employed and transported client goods in a push cart around the Renkini Bus Terminus area and my niece occasionally did piece jobs such as doing laundry and cleaning other people’s houses.

The family struggled financially and to add to that the husband drank heavily. The financial situation in their home could have been the reason Meluleki beat his wife a lot.

Phiri added that the couple had been together for about 10 years and had a nine-year-old daughter. She said:

My niece was naked when she fell from that window and I’m here to pack some clothes so that we can dress her body at the mortuary.

The funeral wake will be held at our family home in Mzilikazi and family members have started gathering there.

She was killed like an animal and we will make sure that her death is avenged.