By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –
SLAIN Auto Force proprietor Reeves Malambo’s lover Tshiabu Benos yesterday wailed in court as she narrated the unfolding events which led to how she ended up stabbing her boyfriend to death on the fateful night.
Benos, however, informed Lusaka High Court Judge Gertrude Chawatama when she was asked how she felt about her lover’s death, that she felt “horrible and like a tonne of bricks was placed on her heart.”
Speaking as she opened her defence yesterday, Benos said she had enjoyed a peaceful relationship with Mr Malambo all along, but he was a jealous lover who used to insert his fingers into her private parts to check if she had had sex with other men.
Benos, 38, is charged with the murder of Mr Malambo, 48, at her Ibex Hill house in Lusaka on January 28 this year.
She said that on the material day, she had gone to church before going to visit a sick niece of hers who was admitted to the University Teaching Hospitals (UTH).
Benos said she then proceeded to see her sister-in-law in Rhodes Park, where she and an aunt shared some wine.
She said while at her sister-in-law’s house, Mr Malambo kept calling her, but she avoided his calls and when she later checked her phone, she found missed calls and Whatsapp messages from him accusing her of having started an affair with another man.
Benos said around 21:00 hours, her brother Mumba Mutanuka went to pick her up and when she reached home, she found Mr Malambo’s car parked in her yard.
She said that as she was pressed and the nearest lavatory was in her bedroom, she grabbed her car keys and rushed inside.
“As I was going in, I saw Mr Malambo, who followed me into the bedroom, and asked where I was and I told him, ‘Sweetie, I thought I told you’,” she said.
Benos said that as she dropped the car keys on the bed to rush into the bathroom, she noticed that Mr Malambo was locking the bedroom door.
She said while she was down, as the couple started fighting, she saw Mr Malambo coming from the bedroom pantry with a knife and he slashed twice in her stomach forcing her to shout for help as he threatened to kill her.
Ms Justice Chawatama adjourned the case to November 27 this year.