MUTINTA MULAYE writes
A WOMAN of Kamwala south has divorced her abusive husband of 8 years after they have been on separation for 2 years.
Prudence Sinkala told Senior Local Court Magistrate Gaston Kalala that after she married Morgan Malama in 2011, they stayed well.
She said that she used to travel to South Africa to do business and later borrowed money so that her husband could also do business which he started in 2012.
“In 2012 he started doing business. He told me there was someone selling a plot at K40, 000. My mother helped us pay K30, 000. My husband said he would pay the rest. Again there was another plot we bought. I paid K23, 000. My husband said he would pay the rest,” Ms Sinkala stated.
But when her husband started doing well, there was no longer peace as he started beating her and dating other women that he was doing business with.
“One time he removed a lot of money from our joint account without telling me. In 2014 he made me borrow money from my mother. All the time I asked for the money back, we would fight. After a time I managed to retrieve K20, 000 from his sister,” Ms Sinkala said.
She further said that she gave him another K190, 000 for business and he went to South Africa and bought some things.
“Whenever I asked him about those things, we would differ and he would beat me. I wanted to help him sell but he refused. He left for South Africa for 2 weeks with his girlfriend in 2017 and didn’t even tell me,
“He’s very abusive and would beat me with anything that was nearby. He beat me once in public. Whenever I ask about his girlfriend he’d tell me ‘ndiwe step mother elo step mother ni mfwiti’. When my mother came home and he told her to get me or else she would find me dead,” Ms Sinkala explained.
In defence Mr Malama however denied that his wife had ever given him any money.
“I had a house which I sold and bought a plot in 2012. I started doing business and found a plot for K75, 000. My wife put K20, 000 and I put K35, 000. Due to differences we got our monies back and didn’t buy that plot,” Mr Malama stated.
He also said his wife had a drinking problem and that’s why he used to beat her.
The court found that Mr Malama had not appreciated his wife’s efforts.
There was also violence in the marriage. Divorce was granted and Mr Malama was ordered to compensate Ms Sinkala with K10, 000.
