Mutinta Mulaye writes
A LUSAKA man who had an affair with his step daughter and impregnated her has been divorced and fined K15,000.
This was in a case in which Beauty Mwenya, 39 of Silverest sued her husband Richard Gabby of Garden house for divorce.
Before Senior Local Court Magistrate Juliet Mwila, Ms Mwenya stated that when she got married to Mr Gabby in 2012, she already had 3 children from another man.
“I only stayed with him for one year and problems started. He proposed my daughter without me knowing. One of my neighbors told me to investigate what was going on between my daughter and my husband. I asked my daughter and she admitted and told me she had sex with him,” Ms Mwenya stated.
She then told the court that she was so disappointed that she moved out of the house and went to stay with her parents. When she called her husband to ask him about the affair, he denied.
“I reported to the police but nothing was done because she is above 16. After some time my daughter told me she was pregnant and my husband was responsible. I was so shocked and I did not want to see my daughter,” Ms Mwenya stated.
She further disclosed that she later heard that her daughter had gone to stay with her husband and when her aunt went there, she found her daughter leaving her matrimonial bedroom.
“The time I was leaving home, I left my 4-year-old daughter with my husband. When I went there my daughter was looking sick. It seemed my husband was doing things to her which I do not know. I tried to take my child and my husband beat me up for it,” Ms Mwenya stated.
Ms Mwenya also told the court that Mr Gabby had stopped supporting his family since the separation and that they have been on separation for a year now and she found that he had married another woman.
Mr Gabby denied the allegations of impregnating his step daughter and stated that his wife had given him the right to marry another woman because they have been apart for three years.
“I also want this marriage to end. Over the issue of impregnating my step daughter, it is an accusation. My wife’s daughter had a lot of boyfriends. I am not the father of the child,” Mr Gabby stated.
The court found that there was unfaithfulness and violence which led the marriage to break down. Divorce was granted and Magistrate Mwila ordered Mr Gabby to compensate Ms Mwenya with k15, 000.
