Lusaka Woman Confessed Infidelity on ‘Death Bed’ to Her Hubby – Court Hears

By NOMSA NKANA
THE Lusaka Boma Court heard how a woman who thought was at the point of death in hospital, hurriedly confessed to her husband her infidelity, saying she did not want to die with sin in her heart.
But unfortunately, the woman recovered, and in court, she vehemently denied having confessed infidelity, saying it was impossible for her to do that as she was too ill to speak at the time.
This was heard before Justices Abishine Michello and Linda Tembo in a case in which, Jennipher Chibanda, 30, of Chipata dragged her husband William Mumba to court for divorce.
In passing judgment, Justice Michello adjourned the matter to a later because the defendant asked the court to give him ample time to inform his church and family about the divorce as they were not aware of it.
In her statement, Chibanda told the court that from the time the two got married in 2006, they’ve had problems.
One day when she got home, Chibanda noticed strange plates containing food which she recognised as belonging to her neighbour.
Apparently she said, the food was prepared for her husband.
“When I asked my husband where the food came from, he said from his friend at the market but I didn’t tell him I knew the plates and food were from the woman next door,” she said.
In Mumba’s absence, Chibanda took the plates back to her neighbour demanding to know why her plates were in their house.
She said the woman agreed that she had prepared food for Mumba and taken it to him.
In trying to cover up his tracks, Mumba one day connived with a friend who he invited to his home for a meal and told him to ask for the very plates which were at the centre of controversy pretending that they were his.
And when the man did that, Chibanda told her husband that she was way ahead of him as she had already established who the crockery belonged to, adding that she returned them to the owner.
“In shame, my husband kept quiet,” she said.
Chibanda said because their marital problems were escalating, her husband called his brother to counsel them and when he went to their home and asked to first hear her side of the story, Mumba got angry.
He started throwing cups and plates at her and a fight broke out between Mumba and his brother who bled and thereafter left for his home.
Chibanda said while all this was happening, she was pregnant but Mumba one day cursed her by saying she would have a difficult pregnancy.
True to his words Chibanda said, she developed complications and delivered a premature baby.
And as if that was not enough, Chibanda said two weeks after she was discharged from hospital, some neighbours told her a man had defiled a young girl in their neighbourhood though they did not tell her which man in particular committed the crime.
But one day when she went to sleep, Chibanda said her sleep was disturbed by some scuffle outside her home and when she woke up to check, lo and behold, her beloved husband Mumba was being beaten for defiling a minor.
She said some people then told her it was her husband they meant when they said a certain man had defiled a young girl.
Mumba was arrested and later released after which she filed for divorce.
And in his statement, Mumba said before he married Chibanda, she had been having an affair with a married man; a relationship she carried on even after getting married to him.
He said the man, who is called Ba Shimpundu (father of twins) would take her to some guesthouses where they would have their sex romps.
“When Chibanda was ill in hospital, she told me she didn’t want to die with sin in her life. It was then she confessed to me she was having an affair with ba shimpundu who told her to cause me problems so that I could get frustrated and give up on this marriage,” he said.
Much to his chagrin, Mumba said he discovered his wife was yet again having another affair with a man in their neighbourhood who was in the habit of phoning her to find out if I was home.
He said he one day over heard a phone conversation between his wife and the man who asked her, ‘are you going to give me what I want?
Mumba told the court he cannot go through with the divorce as his church and family members have no idea about it.