A MAN OF LIVINGSTONE WAS LEFT STUNNED AND HEARTBROKEN UPON HIS RELEASE FROM PRISON ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT HIS WIFE HAD NOT ONLY BECOME PREGNANT, BUT HAD ALSO MARRIED ANOTHER MAN IN HIS ABSENCE
Watson Kachenjela, 35, of Livingstone, was granted a presidential pardon and released from prison on December 23, 2023 after serving only three of his five-year jail term for being in possession of a protected trophy in 2021.
Kachenjela said on his way to his matrimonial home after he was released, his younger brother, Kelvin Halando, informed him that his wife, Abigail Mudenda, 30, had married another man.
He was testifying in Livingstone Local Court A2 in a case in which he sued Mabvuto Lungu, 35, of Zambezi Sawmills in Livingstone, for K95,000 as compensation for “abducting” his wife.
“Fearing there would be a confrontation when I got home, my younger brother advised me not to go to my matrimonial house. I married Mudenda in 2014. I paid K2,700 out of the six animals that I was charged as bride price. We have one child together,” he said.
Mudenda admitted to both being pregnant for Lungu and having a child with Kachenjela. She, however, denied ever being married to Kachenjela saying he only proposed love to her in 2014.
Mudenda said from 2015 to date, Kachenjela had not paid anything despite his initial intent to formalise the marriage although he had continued communicating with her parents over the phone.
“So I moved on with my life and got married to another man. The house which Kachenjela left me in had also become small,” she said.
Mudenda also admitted that traditionally she is still considered to be married to Kachenjela, as her parents in Mumbwa consented to the union.
However, she said despite the documents which were signed between her parents and Kachenjela over the marriage, she was now married to Lungu.
“I knew he was in prison and when he was pardoned, I offered to pay him K4,000 or K5,000 as compensation so he can start a new life without me. But he refused the offer,” she said.
In his defence, Lungu said he was not aware Mudenda was married when they met.
“I was looking for a woman to marry. When I met Mudenda, I proposed and she accepted my proposal. We then started staying together. We are not formally married as I have not approached her parents yet,” he said.
Senior Local Court Magistrate Fredrick Mainza noted that traditionally Kachenjela and Mudenda were married because her parents consented to their marriage.
The case is adjourned to January 21, 2025.
Credit : Zambia Daily Mail