Violent couple divorced
Written by Millennium on July 20, 2019
MUTINTA MULAYE writes
@SunZambian
A Lusaka Local Court has divorced a 21-year-old couple where the wife repeatedly threatened to chop off the husband’s head.
This was a case in which Isaac Mukwamo, 59, of John Laing Township sued his wife Jean Banda, 53, in the Boma Local Court for violent behaviour and repeatedly threatening to chop off his head.
Mr Mukwamo complained to senior local court magistrate Juliet Mwila that his wife had a long history of being violent, disrespectful and vulgar.
“At one point, she hit me with an iron bar and injured my knee. I stopped sleeping home as it wasn’t safe anymore for me due to her constant threats,” he explained.
“A week after I was discharged from hospital for the injury, I went to see her but she again hit me with the iron bar. I realized then I was living with a dangerous person,” Mr Mukwamo said.
He said, “She once locked the gate and told me she wanted to deal with me in such a manner that the children would only find a dead body when they returned.”
“She would usually boast that ‘ine nimenya nabamuna’ (I even beat men). She literally became a ninja who turned the house into a boxing ring,” he said.
But in her defense, Ms Banda told the court that her husband neglected her and the family when he went to work in Botswana for two years.
“He came and collected his first wife in 2006 and took her to Botswana, and only came and collected me after he differed with her,” Ms Banda said.
She said her husband stayed out of employment for a year, but when he found another job in 2013, she assisted him with some money to renew his work permit.
“When he started working, he bought a car which I never stepped a foot. Only his ‘girlfriend’ used to move with it. There were also rumours that he had another woman at the farm he was working,” Ms Banda said.
She said, “He later confessed to he had a girlfriend with whom he even had a child with. I felt bad but still continued living with him. He asked me if we could start keeping that child and I accepted.”
She said her husband continued seeing the girlfriend behind her back while lying he was gone to the farm.
“I beat him because he had slept out at his girlfriend’s house. I became emotional and I insulted the girlfriend. He attacked me first after I insulted the girlfriend,” Ms Banda said.
The court, in judgement, ruled the marriage was filled with violence, unfaithfulness and lacked trust. Divorce was granted and the magistrate ordered Mr Mukwamo to compensate his ex-wife K15, 000.
