A court in Lusaka heard how a 25-year-old man of Helen Kaunda Township has allegedly been sleeping with his girlfriend in presence of his children with the aim of teaching them how to go about it when they grow up.
This is a case in which Naomi Sifuwe sued Simon Chitengi, for divorce after accusing her husband of having extramarital intercourse in the face of their children.
Sifuwe and Chitengi had been married for seven years and have two children but problems in their marriage started shortly after the two got married, according to evidence before the court.
Sifuwe submitted before Chelstone local court magistrate Hope Mwila that while the two were on separation for a month, her children, who were staying with their father, revealed to her that he had been bringing another woman in the house.
When she confronted her husband, Chitengi is said to have told Sifuwe that the children were supposed to know about sex because they would also start having it soon.
“My husband and I had misunderstandings and my brother came to get me, when I came back, I found my husband had brought in another woman who was pregnant for him.
“My children later complained to me that their father and his girlfriend had been having sex in their presence and when I asked him why, he told me they also needed to know about it,” she said.
Sifuwe told the court that since he got the other woman pregnant, he stopped supporting the children including refusing to pay for their school fees.
But Chitengi accused his wife of being a sex worker and told the court that he was ready to divorce her.
He was happy that the court would separate them because for a long time he had lived in perpetual agony because whenever the two differed she used to beat him badly.
“Our marriage has a lot of problems, my wife is a sex worker and every time I tried talking to her, we ended up arguing and she beat me,” he said.
“I love my wife but I am scared of the beatings she gives me. She has stabbed me on the back before, she pulls my dreadlocks, she might look so slim but the beatings she gives me are too much,” he said.
He, however, said his children were not going to school because of financial constraints.
Magistrate Mwila, who was sitting with Bertha Zulu, dismissed the claim citing that the two were not married but just cohabiting for seven years because no dowry was paid.
The court, however, advised the woman to sue for child maintenance so that Chitengi could start supporting the children.