MUTINTA MULAYE writes
A 28 year old teacher of Lusaka’s Kabanana Compound, has divorced her husband of 2 years who reportedly neglected her and their child.
Serah Phiri told the Boma Local Court, presided over by Senior magistrate Martha Tembo, that her husband deserted the matrimonial home every time he got paid and only returned after two or three days claiming he was at work.
Ms Phiri said that the husband at one time completely stopped buying food for the home and she had to be looked after, with the child, by his mother.
She said that the couple in 2017 was forced to shift top the husband’s family house because they had a lot of debt and could not afford to pay rentals.
She said she once found condom wrappers in his car after he returned from his weekend escapes but he claimed a friend who used his car.
Ms Phiri said her husband later on requested her to move to her parents’ house with the child because he could not sustain them.
“He told me to return to my parents’ house so that he could try and raise money for us to shift to elsewhere. I refused and told him we were supposed to ensure together. He got upset; said he was unhappy about how close I was to his family and that I was being disrespectful to him,” Ms Phiri stated.
She accused the husband of having many girlfriends some of whom she said even confronted through facebook.
“He returned from a weekend one time and simply booked a taxi and sent me off with the child,” she stated.
But Mr Musonda told court that problems between them started before the two got married.
“She was very disrespect to me when she was pregnant. She also has a problem with anger and would threaten to kill me every time we quarreled,” he stated.
He said he decided to shift to a family house, closer to his parents’ place, because he feared for his life.
“She would break things in the house every time she got angry. She accused me of having many girlfriends and when we were on separation one time, she followed me and burnt my work suits over the same accusations,” Mr Musonda stated.
The court ruled that unfaithfulness and lack of support also led to the breakdown of the marriage rendering the couple not live in harmony.
Magistrate Tembo divorced the couple and ordered Mr Musonda to compensate Ms Phiri with K8, 000.
