A MARRIAGE spanning over three decades has come to a bloody, gruesome and fatal end after a couple of Lusaka’s Kanyama Compound resorted to using knives and axes to fight after a marital dispute.
After the fight on the morning of June 7, 2023, the wife died with an axe stuck in her head while the man is in the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) battling for his life with a slit throat.
According to those familiar with the couple, theirs was a bumpy marriage punctuated by abuse and violence.
The Zambia Daily Mail reported the story yesterday identifying the dead woman as Joyce Chingulema aged 57, a pastor of Rise and Shine Pentecostal Ministries.
On the fateful day, Patsor Joyce was found unconscious by her neighbors with the axe still stuck in her head while her husband Ford Mabenge, 61 was also gasping for breath while he lay in a pool of his own blood.
Neighbours had to break down the door and force their way in after the couple locked themselves in for their last fight.
A neighbour revealed that a quarrel about the husband’s extramarital affairs may have degenerated into a physical fight that led to the deaths.
Zambia Police Assistant Public Relations Officer Godfrey Chilabi, relatives of the victim and eye-witnesses confirmed the incident in separate interviews on Saturday.
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Chilabi said officers at Kanyama Police Station received a report of attempted murder involving a couple in Kanono Transmitter area in Kanyama west in Lusaka.
He said the report was made by a named 40-year-old resident, who initially reported that a couple was attacked by unknown people while in their house.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Apostle Geshom Mabenge, who is the son of the couple, said the six children which his mother has left behind are traumatised about the incident, which has taken the life of their mother and put their father in a critical condition.
“We don’t know exactly what made our father hack our beloved mother. We are seeking for answers. Everyone would want to see justice prevails whenever the life of their beloved one is cut short. Our mum has died so prematurely. All we are seeking for is justice. It doesn’t matter who killed her, the person must be brought to book,” Apostle Mabenge said.
The apostle, who was found with his siblings at his parents’ house, said in an interview that on Wednesday, he went to his mother’s house as the two were both pastors and conducted prayers every Wednesday.
Apostle Mabenge said when he reached his parents’ house, he found their neighbors crying and they had gathered outside the house.
“When I reached in the house, I saw a lot of blood. I was shocked after a few minutes, I saw my dad being rushed to a bus which the neighbors had hired. I followed, I found my mum already in the vehicle with an axe stuck in her head. I did not know what to do. I was in total shock. I could not believe what my eyes had seen,” he said.
Apostle Mabenge said his parents had lived together for 35 years, saying the decades they spent together were mostly coupled with fights as his father was abusive to his mother, which made the two separate in 2017.
He said after the separation, his mother did not want anything to do with their father, but the children brought them back together against their mother’s wish.
A neighbor to the victim said a day before the incident happened, Mabenge confided in her that her husband had been engaging in extra-marital affairs and told her she would confront him the following day as he was busy on that day.
“The next thing I heard was that the two had a fight and my neighbor, who had been my mentor for a long time, had died. I am still in shock, she used to complain about her husband’s extra-marital affairs despite his age,” she said.
And a relative to the suspect who was found at UTH abd only identified herself as Mabenge said she was aware that her relative was short- tempered but not to the extent of hacking his wife to death.
She said the family is still mourning while their brother is battling for his life in hospital.
A church member, who was found at the house of mourning said it was unfortunate that the pastor, who had been a mentor, was murdered by the person she treasured.
The source said a Sunday before she died, the pastor’s message to the church was about death, in which she urged congregants to prepare themselves spiritually as no-one knows when they would depart from the earth.
The source said the church has been robed of a strong prayer warrior who has helped people to get saved and give their lives to Christ.
Kalemba June 19, 2023
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