A married woman pursuing a nursing course in Ndola has been asked by her husband to choose between marriage and her studies, the Ndola Main Local Court has heard.
Christine Mulenga, a student nurse of Kabushi Township, sued Josphat Sambilu, a driver, for divorce due to marital disputes.
The case came up before Presiding Magistrate Bizzere Nyoni. The two got married in 2018 after Sambilu paid K200 as dowry and over K8,000 bride price.
The couple has one child. Mulenga told the court problems started in 2022 when she started going to school.
She said after the couple got married in 2018, she started selling rice and managed to raise about K8,000 to start pursuing her nursing course.
Mulenga said when she began going to school, she observed that her husband, who agreed to continue sponsoring her studies, started coming home late.
“When I asked him why he was coming late, he told me that it was her fault as she started going to school. My husband started sleeping out and would go for a week without coming back.
Sometimes when I tried to call, a woman would answer the phone that he was also her husband,” she said. She said the situation got worse as her husband stopped sponsoring her at school and also stopped providing at home.
“When I tried to reason with him, he told me to choose between school and marriage,” she said.
She said when she threatened to divorce him, Sambilu showed her a charm and said if she went ahead with the divorce, she would not have children if she decided to remarry.
Mulenga said her husband also stopped paying rentals and at some point the owner of the house wanted to grab their household goods.
“I got the properties from where we were staying while he was not at home but when he came back, he told me that if I don’t take the chairs back to our house, I will die and people will sit on the same chairs,” she said.
In defence, Sambilu told the court he did not want the marriage to end. “Our child being six years old is too young and is going to suffer when we separate,” he said.
Magistrate Nyoni adjourned the case for continuation of hearing and judgment.
Credit: Zambia Daily Mail
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