‘Starved’ husband vents anger on neighbour
By Charles Musonda
THE Matero Local Court has ordered Rabson Mphande to compensate Peggy Shankombo with K3,000 for calling her a witch after she refused to help him resolve marital disputes with his wife, who had denied him his conjugal rights for years.
Shankombo, 54, a housewife of George Compound, told magistrate Victoria Ndhlovu that she had been living with Mphande, 48, a next-door neighbour, for close to 20 years.
She said the situation changed when the two stopped talking to each other in April this year.
Shankombo said they stopped interacting after Mphande cut the wash lines where they used to hang clothes on grounds that they created enmity within the neighborhood.
She explained that every Sunday when Mphande was drunk, he started threatening and insulting people and accused them of witchcraft.
“On 9th August 2026 I was in my house with my husband when he came to the door and called my name. I answered and he entered the house without me asking him to come in. He found me seated and he stood before me,” Shankombo narrated.
“He told me that I have no sense, that I am a fool, and that I am stupid. He said he is not happy with the way I live with my husband because there is no sex in his marriage, because his wife always leaves him to go and do prostitution.”
Shankombo said her husband joined her from the bedroom after he heard noise Mphande’s noise.
She said Mphande continued complaining in the presence of her husband that he helps himself with his hands to satisfy his sexual desires while his wife watches him until he relieves himself. Shankombo said she got upset after Mphande called her a witch and she slapped him before her husband pushed him outside.
Responding to her accusations, Mphande said he called Shankombo a witch after some other neighbours accused her of practicing it.
He said it was true that his wife had been refusing to sleep with him for years and he was then forced to seek Shankombo’s intervention as they had lived together as one family for 18 years.
Mphande said he was forced to use foul language on Shankombo after she refused to help on grounds that she was not related to either of them.
In her judgement, magistrate Ndhlovu told Mphande that it was dangerous to accuse others of witchcraft without proof, warning that such conduct exposes individuals to risks of being killed by angry mobs over natural deaths which may be perceived as witchcraft.
“Let’s learn to forgive each other and as Catholics we don’t live like that. How is God going to forgive you if you don’t forgive each other? Let’s learn to reconcile; what are you teaching the children? Let’s be good to people on earth; let our way of living preach for itself; use your mouths to lead people to salvation,” Ndhlovu said.
She ordered Mphande to pay Shankombo K3,000 in K500 monthly installments.
Mphande was also facing another contempt of court case for failing to attend court previously.
