By SYLVESTER MWALE –

A THIRTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD man of Salamba Village in Chief Nzamane’s area in Chipata District has been fined K750 and a goat by a traditional court for allegedly attempting to sleep with his friend’s wife.
William Phiri was ordered to compensate his friend, Boas Phiri, from neighbouring M’mbianda Village after the defendant was caught around 22:00 hours trying to have sex with the complainant’s wife, Mwaona Ziba.
Ziba was also asked to pay a goat and two chickens to her husband for her role after it was alleged that she had agreed to meet William when her husband, who is a polygamist, was out.
It was alleged that William had proposed love to Ziba after she asked him to reduce the price of a chicken he was selling from K20 to K1 only.
“I told her that I was selling a chicken at K20 but she said that was very expensive,” William told the elders at a traditional court that sat last week.
“I told her that I would reduce to K15, or K10, but she still felt that it was expensive then I asked her to tell me what she could manage and she said K1 only and I accepted.”
The two later agreed that William should meet Ziba at night because the woman’s husband would not be at her house the following night.
Apparently, William had phoned Boas earlier in the day to confirm he would not be at Ziba’s home that night.
The plan went amiss when Boas changed his mind and went to sleep at Ziba’s house giving her no time to reschedule the appointment with William.
Boas said he heard a knock on the window around 22:00 hours before he opened the door to allow the person to come in.
“It was dark and he did not know that it was me who was opening the door, so he just rushed straight to the bedroom after I opened and started undressing,” he said.
“But when he found my wife there when I was still locking the door he realised that there were three people in the house and that the deal had gone sour and we started fighting before he broke my finger and ran away.”

Court throws out man, 78’s adultery allegations

By SARAH TEMBO –

THE Matero local court has dismissed a case in which a 78-year-old man of Lusaka’s Mandevu Township sued his neighbour, accusing him of committing adultery with his wife.
Chrispine Nyamabo had been suspecting that Isaac Zulu, 62, had been sleeping with his wife, aged 61, before he decided to sue him.
Nyamabo told the court that for a long time he had suspected Zulu of having extra-marital affairs with his wife after the defendant visited his wife in September last year.
He said he was surprised to see a man asking for his wife around 21:00 hours and when he tried to confront him, Zulu told him that he had brought some maize for his wife which she had asked for.
Nyamabo claimed that his wife and Zulu did, however, not talk about maize when she went outside to see Zulu who had brought the maize.
“I did not want to exchange words with Zulu so I decided to forget about the whole thing not knowing that the two were having a love affair,” Nyamabo said.
He said after one month his wife went home with a swollen face and told him that it was Zulu who had beaten her after she had asked him to pay back the money he owed her.
“After she was beaten, we tried to look for Zulu but my wife refused and I was later told that she was having a love affair with him,” Nyamabo said.
In his defence, Zulu denied ever having a love affair with Nyamabo’s wife but said he only used to drink beer with her.
Zulu said it was unfair for Nyamabo to accuse him wrongly when he knew very well that it was impossible for him to have anything to do with his wife.
“What can I do with that old woman?” Zulu asked. “I only drink with her because she sells cigarettes at the bar where I usually drink from.”
Nyamabo’s wife, Harriet Nkausu, told the court that she was not having a love affair with Zulu and accused her husband of being jealous.
“I am not having a love affair with this man. My husband just wants to embarrass me in front of my children,” Nkausu said.
Magistrate Lewis Mumba, sitting with Patronella Kalyelye, dismissed the case saying that Nyamabo did not have evidence to convince the court that his wife was really having a love affair with Zulu.

Be realistic, Parents told

By MUNAMBEZA MUWANEI –

THE Ndola Main local court has said guardians and parents should be realistic when determining the amount of money charged for damage.
Senior local court presiding magistrate Rosemary Muke said this when passing judgment in a matter where McDonald Mwansa of Hillcrest sued Chabala Kampilya for impregnating his daughter, Mumba, and wanted compensation.
The plaintiff told the court that he charged Kampilya K18,000 five years ago as damage but to date, he has not paid anything.
He said he decided to charge this amount because his daughter was studying at the University of Zambia and the defendant disturbed her education.
But in defence, Kampilya said he was prepared to settle the damage only that the amount demanded was too much considering the fact that five years ago he was still a student.
Kampilya said he was ready to marry Mumba and settle the differences they had been having as he would like the two to raise the child together.
But Mumba, who was brought in as a key witness, said she had already moved on and was not ready to spend the rest of her life with Kampilya.
Magistrate Muke said the K18,000 Kampilya was asked to pay in damages was too high as Mumba and Kampilya were wrong.
She reduced the amount to K10,000 and Kampilya was ordered to pay K1,000 as the first installment on April 10, 2015 and thereafter continue with the monthly installments of K500.

Foam Master boss goes free

By SARAH MWANZA –

THE Matero local court has dismissed a case in which a man of Lusaka’s Matero Township sued Foam Master director for defamation of character.
The court stated that the plaintiff failed to prove to court that the defendant defamed his boss because he had no witnesses.
This was is in a case in which Keroon Kapenda, 30, sued Muhammad Saad, 33, for defamation of character after he (Saad) allegedly insulted him.
Facts before the court were that Kapenda on February 23, was sent to town by his boss who happened to be Saad’s junior to deliver mattresses.
Kapenda told the court that being a Saturday he was told to leave the mattresses with the casual workers for continued delivery before knocking off at 13:00 hours.
“That is exactly what I did on that day before knocking off,“ Kapenda said.
He said that when he reported for work on February 26, he was surprised to be asked by Saad as to why he had abandoned the goods in town without permission.
Kapenda told the court that Saad also hit him with a stapler and spit on him before calling the security guards to force him (Kapenda) out of his office.
Saad, however, told the court that he never insulted Kapenda but that it was him (Kapenda) who insulted him.
He said on that day, Kapenda was sent into town to deliver some mattresses but that he abandoned the goods in town, leaving them with casual workers.
Being a full-time employee he was supposed to finish the deliveries and later demand for overtime allowance rather than entrusting company property with someone who could not be held accountable,” Saad said.
Saad also said Kapenda was also rude to him.
Magistrate Patronella Kalyelye, sitting with Lewis Mumba, dismissed the case citing lack of evidence to prove that Saad truly insulted Kapenda.

Man refuses to reconcile with ‘sex worker’ wife

By SARAH MWANZA –

A MAN of Lusaka’s Matero Township has refused to reconcile with his wife claiming that she is a sex .
John Banda, 39, told the court that during the three years that the two had been on separation, he had on several occasions met his wife, Beauty Banda, making cash from sex.
This is a case in which Beauty, 31, sued Banda for marriage reconciliation after being on separation for three years.
Facts before the court were that the two got married in 1994 and have four children, although problems in their marriage started shortly after they tied the knot.
“I meet my wife in the streets at night in short pants, especially at Club Zone in Emmasdale selling her body. So there is no way I can reconcile with her,” Banda said.
Banda, a truck driver, said he had in the past met his wife kissing another man and wondered how she could think about reconciliation.
“I stopped telling my wife that I would be going home, but whenever I got home, I used to find that my wife was not there and used to come home around midnight drunk,” she said.
But Beauty told the court that she was sent packing three years ago by her husband without any reason.
She said she had tried to seek audience with her husband so that the two families could help in resolving the problem but nothing had worked, hence her decision to seek court intervention.
Beauty said her husband told her to go and stay with her parents for some time so that she could be taught how to live in a marriage.
“I have been waiting for my husband to come and talk to my parents so that we could get back together but my husband has never bothered to do so,” Beauty said.
“He is accusing me of getting all household goods but he is the one who packed everything for me.”
Magistrate Patronella Kalyelye, sitting with Lewis Mumba, said marriage reconciliation had failed because the man had refused to reconcile with her. In any case the couple had been on separation for too long.