TECHNICIAN FINED K2, 800 FOR BREAKING TV SCREEN
Written by Millennium on September 6, 2019
MUTINTA MULAYE writes
SunZambian
THE Boma Local Court in Lusaka has ordered a technician of Lusaka’s Ng’ombe
Township to compensate a woman of the same area with K2, 800 for breaking her
TV screen.
This is a case in which Rebecca Chilekwa sued Owen Mpalo for breaking her TV screen when he was engaged to repair the set.
Chilekwa told senior local court magistrate Peggy Nyambe that Mpalo was supposed to fix something on her TV but broke the screen in the process.
“My TV had a problem. Someone recommended Owen to check it. When he came to check it, he told me we needed to buy some backlights. He told me they cost K300 which I gave him, plus K70 for transport,
“It looks like he didn’t buy the same backlights where but he came back and started fixing my TV set. I waited the whole day until he said he would come to finish the next day,” she said.
She said Mpalo did not tell her he had broken the screen in the process but only told her a day later.
“He told me he would buy another screen. Then he started dodging me. Sometimes when I call he would not answer, or give someone else to answer,
“One time he even suggested that he sells his TV and buy another one but that never happened,” she said.
In defence Mpalo told the court that he accidentally broke Chilekwa’s TV screen but did not have enough money to pay her the amount she demanded in at once.
“After I bought the backlights that were needed, I started fixing the TV but in the process I accidentally cracked the screen. When I told her, she told me we should agree on a way forward. I suggested I talk to her husband instead but she refused to involve him saying he was too strict,
“I found a good second hand plasma that I wanted to buy for her from someone which I could pay for in installments but Ms Chilekwa said she didn’t want a second hand TV because hers was brand new,” he said.
He said Chilekwa then suggested that each of them should contribute K2, 500 each and buy a brand new TV but he did not have that kind of K2, 500.
Magistrate Nyambe ordered Mpalo to refund Chilekwa with K2, 800 in three monthly installments.
