By CHATULA KAMPO –
THE Chipulukusu local court in Ndola has heard how six children have been sharing one blanket as their father cannot manage to buy for each of them because of his love for women.
Aclina Milimo told Chipulukusu local court magistrates Chileshe Nsofu and Paul Kayula that her husband had become irresponsible after impregnating different women whom he has been spending his money on.
This was a case where Milimo, 31, sued Lloyd Simacha, 38, for reconciliation.
The couple has been married for seven years although Simacha allegedly impregnated another woman in March this year before he deserted his family to stay with the new girlfriend.
“He only gives me K20 to buy food for the six children. The money is not enough at all, when I ask him to give me more money he refuses,” she told the court. “All my six children are sharing one old blanket and have no proper clothes because this man is not providing for them.”
In defence, Simacha denied this, saying that he only had one woman who he impregnated and his wife was aware.
He told the court that he was a taxi driver and that he had been working at night to raise money for food for his family.
Simacha added that the K20 he was giving his wife was enough to buy food for his family as this was what he could afford.
In passing judgment, Mr Kayula expressed shock to hear that K20 was enough to buy food for his six children and the wife.
He wondered what type of food could be bought from K20 to cater for three meals for seven people in a day.
He told the defendant that K20 was not enough and that taxi drivers made a lot of money and ordered him to start buying normal food and blankets for his children.
Magistrate Kayula also wondered why the defendant impregnated another woman when he was failing to feed and clothe his wife and six children.
He, however, reconciled the two and ordered Simacha to take up all the responsibilities of the family and urged the wife to file for a divorce if the problems continued.

Lack of care forced my son  to become gay, says dad

BY SARAH TEMBO
A MAN of Makeni in Lusaka has claimed before the local court that his son has resorted to homosexuality because of lack of care by his former wife who is currently staying with them.
John Mbasela, 40, who has sued his ex-wife Ezel Mbao, 36, of Mtendere Township demanding for the custody of the two children, said his 15-year-old son was involved in homosexuality due to the lack of parental care.
Facts before the court were that Mbasela and Mbao divorced in 2006 after marital disputes before the woman was given the custody of the children.
Mbasela told the court that his children had been staying with Mbao from the time they divorced although he had been supporting them.
He submitted that while he was comfortable with the children staying with their mother, he was hurt when he discovered that his 15-year-old boy was a homosexual.
Apparently Mbasela had been informed by the head teacher at a boarding school where his child was that he had been chased because he was involved in homosexuality.
He attributed the son’s behaviour to the fact that he grew up without a father to instill good morals in him.
Mbasela said since the two divorced his ex-wife had always refused him access to the children, hence he never spent time with his son.
“I want to start staying with my children so that I can be able to give them parental guidance. All the children are boys, hence they need for a father to teach them good ways of living,” he said
However, Mbao told the court that the reason his husband wanted the children was because he never wanted to continue supporting them.
She said she was not willing to give the children to Mbasela because he was never home and no one would be taking care of the children.
Mbao refuted the allegation that he never allowed the children to spend time with their father, saying it was him who never had time for them.
“I can’t give him my children because this man is always busy and he goes home late. Again he drinks too much, I don’t want my children to become drunkards like him.
The matter has since been adjourned to September 15.

Ndola women fined for contempt 

By CHATULA KAMPO
TWO women have been convicted and fined K50 each for contempt of court after admitting the charge of making noise in the Chipulukusu local court.
Local court magistrates Paul Kayula and Chileshe Nsofu convicted Naomi Mofya, 22, and 23-year-old Dainess Mwansa of Ndola’s Chipulukusu Township upon their admission of guilt to the charge.
Particulars of the offence were that the two on September 1, did make noise thereby disrupting the session in the Chipulukusu local court.
Mwansa was a defendant in a case in which she was sued by her husband for divorce.
However, before judgment could be delivered, Mwansa and her husband were told to go outside the court and make a final decision on whether their marriage should be reconciled or dissolved.
But before they could discuss the matter, Mwansa and her sister Mofya started shouting at the complainant, thereby disrupting the court that was in session.
In mitigation, the defendants, who were remanded for one day at Kansenji Prison, pleaded for leniency and told the court that they were sorry for their action and pleaded for forgiveness.
Passing the sentence, Mr Kayula took into consideration their mitigation and fined the duo K50 each or in default to serve 14 days simple imprisonment.
He warned all court goers from making unnecessary noise that could disrupt court proceedings.

Bricklayer dragged to court over shoddy works

BY SARAH TEMBO
A FIFTY-YEAR-OLD woman of Lusaka has asked a bricklayer to reconstruct a sceptic tank after accusing him of shoddy work on initial works.
Mary Chabala contracted Simon Mwale of Kabanana Township to build the sceptic tank at her residence before she left for the United States (US).
However, she told the Lusaka Boma local court that Mwale ignored the specifications that he was given and decided to use his own ideas.
She said when she came back last month from the US, she was surprised that the sceptic tank was full after using it for only one month because it was shallow.
She told the court that Mwale did not even remove timber from the pit he was using when building, a situation which greatly contributed to it getting full within a short space of time.
“I don’t have so much time here in Zambia, I want him to rebuild the septic tank as soon as possible before I live the country, Ms Chabala said.
“I paid him handsomely, hence I expect him to do the job for which he was paid very well, and he should follow all my instructions.”
In defence, Mwale told the court that he failed to build the sceptic tank according to Chabala’s specifications because there wasn’t enough space for the pit.
He further submitted that Chabala insulted him every time she called him over the matter, a situation which had forced him to ignore her calls.
Mwale said now that she was back from the US he was willing to dialogue and build a bigger sceptic tank as per her requirement.
“This woman expected me to perform magic. The space was small and I did what I managed within the given space,” Mwale said.
The matter was adjourned to give the magistrate time for a site visit to establish how the matter could be resolved in the best interest of the two.

Kabwe killer denies knowing  late wife

BY SYLVIA MWEETWA
A WITNESS has narrated before the Kabwe High Court how a man accused of murdering his 33-year-old wife denied knowing the deceased during interrogation with police officers.
Arresting officer, Azwell Mtonga told Kabwe High Court Judge Elita Mwikisa that the accused denied knowing the deceased when he was asked to identify the body of the deceased.
He said the body was only identified by the son of the deceased person.
This was a case in which Vincent Mucheleta is alleged to have murdered his wife, Lydia Nkoshi, on February 13, 2013.
Mtonga told the court that he arrested and charged Mucheleta after investigating the case.
He said he arrested the accused person after he failed to explain how his mobile phone was found near the deceased’s body, which was dumped 15 metres from her house.
Daughter of Mucheleta, Angela, said that on the fateful day, her mother had arrived late and when she called her husband to open the door for her, the accused refused and instead went to meet his wife outside.
She said Mucheleta later went to open the door but her wife did not enter the house and that a few minutes later the accused, who had gone out wearing a T-shirt returned without a shirt on.
Sister to the deceased, Irene Mwape said Mucheleta had hinted to her a day before her sister died that she would kill his wife for what he called unbecoming behaviour.
She said during cross-examination by Mucheleta’s lawyer that she concluded that the accused was behind the death of his wife because his utterances.
Trial continues.

Lusaka brother sued over wizard allegation

BY SARAH TEMBO
THE Chilenje local court has heard how a man of Lusaka’s David Kaunda Township sued his half brother for defamation of character after he allegedly called him a wizard.
Flex Kumwenda, 51, told the court that Gideon Nyuni, 33, of Lusaka’s John Howard Township was in a habit of saying that he, together with his family, were witches who had finished killing every member of the family.
This was in a case in which Kumwenda sued his half brother Nyuni for defamation of character after he allegedly accused him of causing the deaths of other family members.
Facts before the court were that on August 21 this year, one of their relatives died and Nyuni allegedly started telling people that Kumwenda had caused the death.
Kumwenda told the court that whenever there was a funeral in the family, Nyuni used to tell people that he was the one who had killed that family member because he was coming from a family where they practised witchcraft.
He said soon after the burial, he called his step-brother so that he could confirm what he had heard but his brother was rude to him.
“He is saying that my family and I have finished ‘eating’ members of the family because we have been having one funeral after the other,” he said.
But in his defence, Nyuni refused ever saying that his brother together with his family were witches.
He said a day after the burial he followed Kumwenda’s elder sister and asked her “is this how we will be dying in this family?”
Nyuni submitted that he raised the question on the matter with his sister because he was shocked to learn that one of their relatives had died a day after burying another one.
He said a meeting was called and he was asked to apologise of which he did but Kumwenda refused to forgive him.
“I never told them that they were witches. They just misunderstood my statement and the right person to sue me is her sister because she was the one I asked,” Nyuni said.
Magistrate Sharon Kaunda dismissed the case for lack of evidence and encouraged the family to exercise forgiveness.