He's been disfigured. He can't work. He can't even wash his own clothes. But at least it's better than losing his hands completely.
He's been disfigured. He can't work. He can't even wash his own clothes. But at least it's better than losing his hands completely.
That's what the doctor told Vusumzi Sandi would happen unless he had his fingers cut off. They had become infected after a fight with a love rival. He says the man bit him.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail last week Sandi, 52, said he had no idea the wonderful day he had spent with his lover would end in such horror.
The J Street resident lost two fingers – one on each hand – while he was fighting with a neighbour over a woman they both considered their girlfriend.
He said he had spent most of the day with the woman at her O Street home on 16 November last year. As he was getting ready to leave, Sandi said, she told him not to go.
“As we were sleeping a man kicked the door open and came straight for me,” Sandi said. His girlfriend, he said, immediately got up and ran out of the house.
“We started to fight but I had been drinking and he overpowered me and bit me on both my hands,” Sandi said. After spending the rest of the night alone and in excruciating pain, Sandi managed to get a message to his family and was taken to hospital the following day.
The wounds on his hands had become contaminated and the infection was spreading rapidly. “The doctor said I could either risk losing both my hands or have the infected fingers cut off,” Sandi said.
He spent two weeks recovering at Settlers' Hospital before reporting the incident to the police. Police said a case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily was under investigation.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Luvuyo Mjekula said according to their reports, Sandi had to have two of his fingers removed after he was allegedly attacked by a man at his girlfriend’s home.
He said Sandi was sleeping with his girlfriend at her home when, around midnight, the door was kicked open. "The intruder entered and started punching him with his fists," Mjekula said.
"He also bit the complainant’s fingers." Sandi says the incident will have lasting consequences on him and his family.
He worked for a contractor before the incident. Now, he says, he's been forced to apply for a disability grant because there are many things he can't do, and he can't get work.
“A lot of things have changed in my life. Now I have to rely on my sister to do my washing for me and many other little things,” Sandi said.
Sandi's sister, Noluthando, said the incident had put her under pressure, because she now had to look after him.
Grahamstown police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said according to the investigating officer, a man had been arrested in connection with incident.
He appeared briefly in the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court yesterday on a charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The case was remanded to this past Tuesday for copies of the docket. He is currently out on warning.
