VICTORIA KASANGA writes
A Ndola marketeer has been fined K4,000 for calling her father’s relative a prostitute and accusing her of sleeping with him.
This is a case in which Judith Namfukwe 45, of Nkwazi Township sued Mwansa Nakombe, a-43-year old marketeer of the same township for compensation of insults and defamation of character.
Ms Namfukwe told the court it was on the 18th of March this year when she went to the market and she met Ms Nankombe’s family.
She said as she was buying relish, Ms Nankombe’s father asked her whether she had knocked off from work and she agreed.
“To my surprise, Ms Nankombe grabbed me in the present of people and started shouting at me saying I was her father’s prostitute and that I was sleeping with him,” she said.
The case was before Mapalo Local Court senior presiding magistrate Judith Bwalya sitting with Nsama Nsofu.
She said Ms Nankombe accused her of benefiting her father’s money and that he had bought a mattress.
Ms Namfukwe said she tried to explain to her that her father was actually a relative but she did not want to listen.
Ms Namfukwe explained that she kept on shouting and her mother also joined in, accusing her of sleeping with the husband adding that he had even given her K4,000.
“They pulled me in public and people gathered and wanted to start beating me and that’s how I ran into Someone’s house to wait for the situation to calm down,” she said.
She said by the time she was leaving the house, Ms Nankombe and the mother continued insulting her.
Ms Namfukwe said she brought Ms Nankombe to court because she had embarrassed her and people at the market were associating her with prostitution after the accusations.
In her statement, Ms Nankombe said it was around 20:00hours when they were buying relish at the market and she saw Ms Nanfukwe asking money from her father.
She said she did not insult Ms Namfukwe but just wanted to find out why she was torching her father’s pockets.
“It is a well-known fact at the market that a lot of people steal from my father. I was just trying to look out for him and that was why I grabbed her hand,” she said.
She said she then left to go ask her father how he was related to Ms Namfukwe.
Ms Nankombe said after their market chairman confirmed that Ms Namfukwe was a relative to my father, she asked for forgiveness.
In passing judgment, the court ordered Ms Nankombe to compensate Ms Namfukwe K4,000 for defaming her character with the first instalment of K500 and thereafter 250 monthly.