By MWANGALA LISELI –
LUSAKA local court has granted divorce to a couple after a woman decided to walk out of a polygamous marriage because she has become a born again Christian.
Mary Simenda of Zingalume Township told the Lusaka Boma Local Court that she could not continue to be a second wife to Robert Sichima because the first wife had never accepted her.
This is in a case where Mary Simenda, 30, sued Sichama, 40, for divorce after allegedly receiving continuous threats from his first wife.
Simenda told the court that her husband lied that he had divorced his first wife when he married her, but was surprised to find that they had reconciled.
Simenda said she was now a born again Christian and that she could no longer continue being in a polygamous marriage as the Bible was against it.
“His first wife has never accepted me, she is always threatening me, saying that she will kill me because she will never rest until I am dead,” Simenda said.
“I understand her because I found her already married to him and I know she is just trying to protect her home. I recently got born again, I have leant that the Bible is against polygamy and as such, I want a divorce,” she said.
But Sichama told the court that he never wanted a divorce her as he still loved her and that he would resolve the differences the two women were facing.
Sichama, however, said that his second wife wanted to divorce him because she had found a boyfriend.
He said he was surprised to learn that his second wife had left the house and went to live with another man after he recovered from the sickness at his first wife’s home.
“I was sick at my first wife’s home and when I recovered and went to check on my other wife, I found she had left. I have even been told that my wife is living with another man,” he said.
Principal presiding magistrate Mable Mwaba sitting with Grace Ngoma and Mundia Banda granted divorce to the couple and asked Sichima to pay Simenda K4,000 as compensation.
G3 guards get 5 yrs each for murder
By SYLVIA MWEETWA
THE Kabwe High Court has sentenced two G3 security guards in Kabwe to five years imprisonment with hard labour for murdering a man they mistook to be a thief.
In passing sentence, Judge Elita Mwikisa said it was saddening that the two guards took the law in their own hands while manning the railway station and beat Peter Zulu before establishing if he was a thief or not.
This is in a case in which Phineas Ngoma, Erick Kalayi where jointly facing a murder charge but the court acquitted Mate Liyango on the basis that there was no evidence to link him to the crime.
Particulars of the offence were that Ngoma and Kalayi, while acting together on May 30, 2013 murdered Zulu.
During trial, the State called four witnesses who testified that on the fateful night, the two were on duty at the railway station when they beat up the deceased.
The witnesses testified that the deceased was drinking beer with his friend when the guards attacked him and accused him of stealing from passengers at the station before he was dragged to the enquiry office.
Zulu died a day later in hospital.
At the closure of the case by the prosecution, Ngoma and Kalayi were found with a case to answer and put on defence.
Ms Justice Mwikisa said it was clear that the two inflicted pain on the deceased in the course of their duty and sentenced them to five years imprisonment each with hard labour.
Earlier, in mitigation, through their lawyer Bridget Pizo, the two asked for leniency, saying the attack on the deceased occurred in the course of their duty but said they did not intend to kill him.
She said the security guards who had sworn to protect the lives of passengers from criminal acts did not have intentions of killing him adding that the deceased was also attacked by a mob within the station before he was whisked away.
Lusaka GBV victim granted divorce
By SARAH TEMBO –
AN emotional-gripped woman of Matero Township has asked a local court to grant her divorce from her husband who severely beat her up when she was nine months pregnant.
Mutango Chicube,28, told the court that she had a miscarriage due to the savagely beating she received from her husband and was no longer interested to stay in marriage with him.
This was a case in which Chicube sued Simon Phiri,37, for divorce after the two failed to resolve their marital dispute.
Chicube told the court that her husband used to leave home on Fridays and only returned on Monday, she was always beaten whenever she attempted to find out where he could have spent nights.
She told the court that her husband brought different women in the house where he made love with them as she watched.
Chicube complained that one of her husband’s many girlfriends had been insulting her.
The husband also threatened to kill her if she continued bothering him.
In his defence, Phiri told the court that he loved his wife and was not willing to divorce her.
He said the only problem he had with her was that she had refused to accept the children he fathered from other women.
Phiri told the court that his wife was in the habit of returning home drunk at midnight.
Local court magistrate Lewis Mumba sitting with Petronella Kalyelye granted divorce and ordered Phiri to compensate Chicube with K3,000.
Vendor awarded K600 in defamation case
By SARAH TEMBO –
THE Matero local court has ordered a woman of Lusaka’s Garden Township to compensate a hawker with K600 for defamation after she accused her of stealing a Chitenge material.
Magistrate Lewis Mumba said it was not right for Monica Mumba 35, to accuse her neighbour Ruth Sakala of having stolen her Chitenge without evidence.
This was a case in which Sakala, 45, sued Mumba for defamation of character after she accused her of stealing her Chitenge material from the line.
Sakala told the court that she had passed through Mumba’s house on the material day with her merchandise but was shocked when the defendant followed her at her home later accusing her of stealing the Chitenge on the line.
She said when she tried to reason with Mumba, by suggesting that both visit a witch finder or a prophet, the defendant was adamant and shouted on top of her voice that Sakala was a thief.
“From that time Mumba has been telling people that I was a thief claiming that I stole her Chitenge,” she said.
But in her defence, Mumba denied ever calling her a thief but admitted to have followed Sakala at her place when her Chitenge material went missing on the hanger.
She said that she only saw Sakala passing and when she went outside she discovered that her Chitenge material was missing from the line.
She told the court that she went to Sakala’s home to find out if she had seen anyone getting the Chitenge from the line.
“She was the only person I saw passing, hence I had the right to go and ask if she had seen anyone getting a Chitenge since it was missing,” she said.
But magistrate Mumba, sitting with Petronella Kalyelye said it was wrong for Mumba to confront Sakala just because she was the only one she saw passing by her house.
‘I have the right to dance naked’
By SARAH TEMBO –
A LOCAL court in Lusaka has heard how a 24-year-old woman boasted that she had the right to dance naked and explicitly without any regret or apology to make.
This was a case in which Zondiwe Matale, 30, of Matero Township sued Munyinda Mundaudo for defamation after the defendant allegedly insulted her in the bar.
Matale and Mundaudo had a bitter exchange of words after the former found her husband with the latter’s friend at a bar.
Evidence before the court was that Matale had followed her husband at the drinking place where she found him with Mundaudo’s friend before the defendant started showering insults at her for following her spouse.
Matale told the court that she decided to grab her husband but Mundaudo continued insulting her citing that she did not have bums and that was the reason her husband was going after other women.
“This woman told me that I don’t have bums, and that a real woman should have bums to look appealing before her husband,” she said.
“She told me that she had those bums and that was the reason herself and her friend had managed to make her husband continue following them,” she said.
In her defence, Mundaudo admitted that the two had exchanged insults after the plaintiff confronted her friend who was with her husband.
She told the court that Matale had asked some people to spy on who was dancing with her husband in different night clubs.
“This woman is a retired sex worker, we used to drink together even now, when she is married she comes in a club and we dance naked together.
“I don’t deny that we were exchanging insults; she was insulting me and there was no way I could have just kept quiet,” she said.
However, Matero Local Court magistrate, Lewis Mumba, sitting with Petronella Kalyelye ordered Mundaudo to pay K600 as compensation for insulting Matale.
Woman complains of ‘slave’ treatment
By MWANGALA LISELI –
A WOMAN of Lusaka’s John Laing Township has sued her husband for divorce after she claimed that his family treated her like a slave.
Faless Zulu, 24, told the Lusaka Boma Court that her husband’s family did not like her as they supported her husband every time she was being beaten.
This is in a case where Zulu sued Charles Mbongi, aged 35 for divorce claiming that his family mistreated her.
Facts before the court were that the two had been living together for five years and have one child but problems in their marriage started shortly after they got married.
Zulu told the court that Mbongi’s relatives did not respect her as they entered even into the couple’s bedroom and threw her belongings without any reason.
She said her husband was usually in support of their actions and most of the times used to beat her whenever she was home.
Zulu said her husband reported to his mother whenever she had a misunderstanding who would come with his sisters and beat her up.
“His mother and sisters are always beating me and throwing me out of the house. Even when I differ with him, he reports to his mother and they come to beat me up,” she said.
In his defence, Mbongi told the court that his wife was usually drunk and most of the times came home past midnight.
He said he had tried to talk to her but she has never shown him any respect hence the confusion in the home.
Mbongi said he bought her a car out of love but she used that car to go on drinking sprees.
He said that she got all her clothes one day saying that she was going to town but was shocked when he heard that she had started living alone and was always found in bars and nightclubs.
But principle presiding magistrate Mable Mwaba sitting with Grace Ngoma and Mundia Banda dismissed the case saying there was no marriage between the two as they were only cohabiting.
