By PEZO SIABASIMBI –
A CHILENJE local court magistrate has warned a 45-year-old man of Lusaka’s Kamwala Township who married his 17-year-old maid as his second wife to be careful with his actions.
Magistrate Sharon Sichone sitting with magistrate George Kaoma said it was shameful for a mature man to behave in the manner he did.
The court advised that if the man did not change he would defile his own daughters.
This is in a matter in which Alice Simundende, 38 sued her husband Jaidi Siazana for marriage reconciliation resulting from the marital problems the two had.
Simundende told the court that her husband turned against her and married the maid she employed claiming she was more hard working than her.
She said she got married to Siazana in 1989 and they lived in harmony until last year when she employed a maid to be helping out.
Simundende said problems started last year in October when she caught her husband making love with her maid on the matrimonial bed.
She said she was watching television in the living room when her daughter asked her to go to the bedroom and see for herself what was going on.
She said that she found her husband and her maid making love and was told by her husband not to interrupt as that would cause him to have a backache.
Simundende said when she chased the maid the following day, her husband became furious and told her that she had no right to chase the maid.
She said her husband stopped spending nights at home and only went there during the day and when asked he became furious.
She also said she had no problem with her husband marrying second wife provided it was a different woman and not her maid.
She said she still loved her husband but wanted him to chase the maid and marry another woman if he wanted.
But in his defence, Siazana denied ever making love with his maid and said he had married her because he needed someone to be working at the farm, saying his wife was lazy.
“I have been living with my wife but for three years now, she has never bothered to go and work at the farm. I decided to marry our maid because she is very hard working compared to my wife,” he said.
He said he got permission from Simundende to marry a second wife and that he was very surprised that his wife could not accept the woman he married.
Siazana said he still loved her and would not divorce his second wife because she was hardworking compared to his wife.
In passing judgment, magistrate Sichone told the two that it was very clear the two stayed in their marriage for 24 years and that they had problems.
She said it was also clear that Siazana was fond of marrying young girls because he married his first wife when she was 13-years-old.
She asked the two to go home and reflect on their lives and come up with decisions that would not destroy their marriage but build it.
Magistrate Sichone then told Simundende to stop asking Siazana about his second wife since he was not willing to divorce her.
Woman divorces lazy, violent husband
By CHATULA KAMPO –
THE Ndola main local court has granted divorce to a 27-year-old woman after it proved that her husband was lazy and violent.
The woman told the court that she wanted to divorce her husband because he was fond of beating her whenever he was drunk. She said her husband had also threatened to kill the children.
This is in a case in which Prudence Chama, 27, of Kanini township in Ndola sued Rodgers Bwebya, 38, of Overspill for divorce.
The facts in the case are that the two got married in 2002 and have three children together. The two started having matrimonial differences in 2009.
The court heard that the defendant was not providing food for his wife and children, forcing the woman to get help from her parents.
The complaint told the court that her husband usually beat her for no reason and insulted her in public including at church.
“He beats me for no reason until I get wounded, he has no respect for me because he insults me in public, he does not provide anything for our children,” the woman told the court.
In defence, the man pleaded with the court not to grant the couple divorce and denied ever beating his wife.
He alleged that his wife was the one who had been treating him badly and accused her of sleeping out without informing him.
Bwebya instead asked the court to reconcile them, saying his wife had now grown up and would stop misbehaving.
In passing the judgement, Magistrate Sera Bwalya who was sitting with Magistrate Dismus Katampi and Magistrate Kaala Nyambe granted the two divorce and ordered the woman to pay back K10 bride price to the man.
The court also ordered that the children be under the custody of the woman because she was economically stable
.‘Free me from my husband, before he kills me’
By SARAH TEMBO –
A THIRTY-THREE-year-old woman has begged the Matero local court to free her from her husband fearing he might kill her.
The woman told the court that she feared to be killed if she continued staying with her husband.
This is in a case where Matildah Mukelabai, of Lusaka’s Lilayi Police Camp sued Mwangala Mukelabai 35, of Lusaka’s Mtendere Township for divorce after the two failed to resolve their marital disputes.
Facts before the court were that the two got married in 2003 and have one child but problems started when Mwangala stopped working.
She said from the time her husband stopped working, he had been insecure and beat her up whenever they differed.
“I don’t want to die at a tender age from the brutal beating of my husband, I have people who depend on me for their survival,” she said.
And in his defence, Mwangala told the court that he used to stay in peace with his wife until he stopped working.
He told the court that his wife later chased him out of the house and gave him all the household goods and told him that she never wanted to see him again.
Mwangala added that his wife later denied him access to his child, saying the child never belonged to him.
“Troubles started after I stopped working, my wife stopped respecting me and I had no say in our house,” he said.
When passing judgment, magistrate Petronella Kalyelye granted the two divorce and the custody of the child was given to the woman.
The court ordered Mwangala not to compensate his wife because she was the one who first chased him out of the house.
Housewife sues hubby’s ex-lover
By PEZO SIABASIMBI –
A LUSAKA housewife has sued her husband’s ex-girlfriend for disturbing her marriage.
This is in a case in which Patricia Phiri, 27 of Mikango Barracks has sued Karen Phiri, 27 of Lusaka West for insulting her after she was dumped by her husband, Adam Phiri.
Patricia told the court that Karen moved into her matrimonial house when she went to college last year.
She said Karen even had the courage to phone her when she was away in college and when she asked her husband, he told her that she was a maid helping out in her absence.
Patricia said she once found Karen wearing her clothes when she returned home for a vacation and her husband said she was just a prostitute.
Patricia explained that when she went back to college, Karen continued to call her and insult her, forcing her to report to her sister-in-law.
She said when her sister-in-aw asked Karen what she was doing in Patricia’s house, she told her that she was waiting for the marriage to be dissolvered so that she could take over.
She added that her sister-in-law decided to follow Karen and surprisingly found that she had moved in with her child.
Patricia said when she went back home, her husband asked her to go with him to Karen’s place so that he could introduce her as his wife.
She said Karen insulted and assaulted her and claimed that she was pregnant by her husband.
Patricia further said that when she took the summons to Karen, she refused to sign and instead, broke the windscreen of her husband’s car.
In her defence, Karen told the court that Phiri proposed and promised to marry her adding that he was not married.
She said on January 9, 2013 Phiri took her to his place so that they could live together but Patricia insulted her and called her a prostitute.
She said she was shocked at what Patricia said as she did not expect Phiri to be married because she had stayed with him for one year and was waiting for marriage formalities.
Magistrate Sharon Sichone sitting with Magistrate George Kaoma asked Phiri to tell the court what he knew about Karen.
Phiri said he started flirting with Karen in January last year and broke up with her in December but she did not accept it.
Phiri said Patricia decided to sue Karen of her insults ever since he broke up with her.
He said he was no longer interested in Karen and that he loved his wife very much adding that his marriage was at stake because of the confusion Karen was causing.
Magistrate Sichone said that it was clear that Karen was the reason for all the problems Patricia was facing in her marriage.
She ordered Karen never to step foot at Patricia’s home.
Bauleni man denies fathering child
By PEZO SIABASIMBI-
A TWENTY-SEVEN-YEAR-old man of Lusaka’s Bauleni township has denied having a child with a 19-year-old woman of the same area because he suspected her of having an affair with another man.
This is in a case in which Justina Nyangu sued Kennedy Kapindula for failing to support his two-year-old child.
Kapindula told the Chilenje Local Court that the child in question was not his and the real father should take responsibility.
Nyangu said she had an affair with Kapindula in 2010 and got pregnant in 2011 and her grandmother took her to his house after she learnt of the pregnancy.
Nyangu said she could not stay for long at Kapindula’s house because he mistreated her and she was once admitted to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).
She explained that she left Kapindula’s house and went to live with her aunt until the child was born and that he came to see the child without any present.
“I chased him from my place because he came empty handed. According to our tradition, I expected him to bring something before seeing the child,” she said.
She told the court that Kapindula never supported the child apart from buying boom washing paste when he was asked to present something before seeing the child.
She said she wanted Kapindula to take care of the child because she wanted to get back to school.
But in his defence, Kapindula said Nyangu told her that she was pregnant when they were just two months in the relationship.
“Two months after knowing each other, she told me she was pregnant. I didn’t say anything because I never wanted to cause confusions,” he explained.
He said Nyangu was not taken to his house by her grandmother but went by herself and only stayed for two days.
Kapindula added that Nyangu never bothered to inform him when the child was born and only heard about the development from his friends two weeks after the child was born.
He said when he went to prove the birth of the child, he was chased and told not to visit Nyangu again and that she was in a relationship with another man.
In passing judgment, Magistrates George Kaoma and Sharon Sichone said it was clear that the two were once in a love relationship and that Kapindula was aware of the pregnancy.
The court said if Kapindula was not the one responsible for the pregnancy, he would have denied when he was told about it.
Kapindula was asked to go for a DNA test for him to be sure. However, he was ordered to start supporting the child by providing the mother with K200 every month.
