…He watches blue films, masturbates — Wife
A 44-year-old man of Lusaka’s Maichola area in Kabanana Compound, Zambia, has taken his wife to court for repeatedly insulting him and claiming he has a small manhood whenever they quarrel.
Cletus Sambondu told the Matero Local Court that his wife of four years, 35-year-old Anna Tembo, often beat him during arguments and insulted him in front of their children.
Sambondu said he married Anna in 2022 after paying about K4,000 as dowry. According to him, the early days of the marriage were peaceful and they enjoyed intimacy regularly.
However, he said things changed about a year later when Anna began refusing to sleep with him, claiming his manhood was small.
“We married in 2022 and everything was going well.
“In early 2023, she started refusing to sleep with me.
“She would beat and insult me in the presence of my stepchildren.
“Whenever I called people to help reconcile us, she would beat me after they left.
“There has never been peace at home. Her love has been on and off.
“We involved our families, but nothing came out of it. She beats me a lot; at one point I even reported her to the police,” Cletus said.
He added that sometimes his stepchildren joined their mother in physically abusing him during arguments.
“For my safety, I have decided to leave this marriage.
“Her three children have stopped respecting me.
“At one point, she even accused me of being a thief in my own house,” he said.
Meanwhile, Anna told the court that she began beating her husband after catching him watching blue movies and pleasuring himself on several occasions.
“I started teaching him a lesson after I found him playing with himself while I was sleeping beside him.
“Another time I found him doing it in the toilet, then in the kitchen. I would find sperm on the bed sheet even when we hadn’t met at night.
“One day, I found him using Vaseline and releasing on a towel,” she explained.
“The first time I caught him, I slapped him.
“He spends all his time on the phone. We never talk.
“When he enters the bedroom, all he does is watching blue movies. There is no time to discuss anything,” she said.
Anna also told the court that her husband drank excessively and sometimes stayed away from work for months.
Although Anna said she still wanted the marriage to continue, Magistrate Harriet Mulenga granted the couple a divorce, stating that there was no respect between them.
After listening to an audio recording in which Anna was heard insulting Cletus, the magistrate ruled that the situation in the marriage had become unhealthy.
“There is no respect in this marriage. No matter what, you cannot cooperate.
“We have heard of marriages where women beat men. If you respected him, he would not have resorted to masturbation.
“It was also wrong of you to slap your husband.
“There is no way you can tell your husband that he has a small manhood and expect him to have confidence with you.
“That is why he plays with himself, he has lost confidence.
“Respect is cardinal in marriage. How many times will you get married?” asked Mulenga.
The court ordered Cletus to pay K500 monthly maintenance for their one-year-seven-month-old child. Household goods were also ordered to be shared equally, with no compensation awarded to either party.