My wife smeared anointing oil on our chickens, ruined our businesses, man weeps in court
By Charles Musonda
A BUSINESSMAN of 12 miles in Chibombo District in Central Province could not hold back his tears in the Matero Local Court when he lamented how his wife of 30 years had chosen to prioritise her pastors over their marriage by spending extended hours with them in private one-on-one prayers.
Paul Chirwa, 54, lamented that his wife, Stella Banda, 47, who sued for divorce, had been contracting debt without his knowledge or consent, which had crippled their family businesses.
Chirwa told Local Court Justice Lewis Mumba that Banda had developed a habit of obtaining loans from money lenders commonly known as shylocks using household property as security without consulting him.
He said among the items Banda pledged as collateral was a laptop belonging to their daughter and used for her schooling.
“One day I received a phone call from someone who identified himself as a student. He told me that he and his friends were about to sell my daughter’s laptop because my wife had given it to them as collateral for the K3, 000 she borrowed from them,” he said.
Chirwa also told the court that a group of heavily built men once stormed their home demanding repayment of K20,000 that Banda had allegedly borrowed without his knowledge.
“One afternoon, I was at home when I saw heavily built men come and threaten to get our TV and stove because my wife owed them K20, 000. I was depressed, and I started paying the loan after I got a court restriction order to prevent them from getting the household goods. It has always been like that, she is always in debt,” Chirwa said as he broke down and tears rolled down his cheeks.
Chirwa told the court that he and Banda got married in 1996 and have eight children together, the eldest of whom is 30 years old and married.
The couple’s union was, however, dealt a blow when one of their children died from bowel perforation, a loss that Chirwa said marked the beginning of the breakdown of their marriage.
He said Banda struggled to come to terms with the child’s death and turned to one of her pastors for spiritual guidance, only to be told that Chirwa had caused the girl’s death through witchcraft.
“At first, I opened a hardware shop, but she was misusing the money without saving anything. That shop closed down and I opened another one, which also went down because of her conduct.
She then came up with the idea of rearing chickens, which I supported and invested in. Instead of buying feed for the chickens, she was buying anointing oil to smear on the birds so that they could grow properly,” he said.
Chirwa also alleged that Banda had forged ownership documents of their house and transferred them into a friend’s name in order to use the property as collateral to secure a loan.
Despite the litany of grievances he had raised against her, Chirwa said he still loved Banda and was opposed to the divorce, expressing concern that their children whom he described as brilliant stood to suffer the most from the dissolution of the marriage.
“It is my wife who wants the divorce so that we can sell and share the money from the proceeds,” he said.
In her submission, Banda insisted on a divorce, saying she was afraid of being killed by her husband.
She said Chirwa had been beating her and tearing her clothes in the presence of their children for 15 years because he was not afraid of going to prison.
Banda said each time they had sex, Chirwa, who stops her from attending services at her named Pentecostal church, smears dust on his forehead for an unknown ritual.
Justice Mumba adjourned the case to May 19, for judgment after the court conducts a site visit to the couple’s property.
Banda had earlier told the court that besides the farm in 12 miles area, they couple had two houses in one yard in Ng’ombe compound.
