By Mwaka Ndawa
FORMER UPND Chilanga member of parliament Keith Mukata and his wife Maricho Rosin Hoare have pleaded with the Lusaka High Court to dissolve their marriage, as continuing with their union may result in barbarity.
Maricho has petitioned Mukata for divorce in the Lusaka High Court for denying her conjugal rights.
She is praying to the court to grant her judicial separation as her marriage to Mukata has broken down irretrievably.
Maricho also wants the court to grant her custody of the four children born out of the marriage.
In his submission, Mukata said he was at loss to appreciate the unreasonable behaviour he committed as alleged by his wife.
He said the enjoyment of conjugal rights was impossible as he was incarcerated, and that could not constitute unreasonable behaviour.
Mukata said Maricho had not met the threshold of the test for the ground of unreasonable behaviour that he had behaved in such a way that she could not be reasonably be expected to live with him.
He claimed that one of their employees, Priscilla Chisenga, said she believed Mubanga Kafula was Maricho’s husband as they shared the same bedroom.
Mukata insisted that his wife was receiving money from her old lover and she duped him to hand over his car to the same man whom she disguised as some church mate.
“The behaviour of the petitioner towards the respondent is indeed unreasonable to the extent that he cannot be expected to live with her,” said Mukata.
“As can be noted by the documents filed by both parties, they have admitted that their marriage has broken down irretrievably and therefore the continuance of this marriage may result in unfortunate events such as violence as it is clear that none of the parties is desirous of staying in the marriage. We humbly pray that may the court dissolve this marriage.”
And in her submission, Maricho said her husband’s behaviour was not of a new man, but of a person who wanted to injure and cause pain to his immediate family.
She said Mukata’s character was that of a criminal.
Maricho said her husband had failed to tell the court how he managed to impregnate her while he was on death roll as he had only said that the correctional facility did not allow having sex.
She said her husband had accused her of having extra marital affairs owing to his unreasonable behaviour.
“The respondent falsely reported my brother’s wife and mother to Matero Police and were unlawfully detained for one night in a police holding cell and demanded that I avail myself before him, which sent my family into panicking and my mother went to Simon Mwewa lane TV. Later on, I was ambushed at the Magistrates’ Court when I went for my assault trial case,” Maricho said.
“The continuance of this marriage may just result in unfortunate events such as killing the petitioner as it is clear that none of the parties is desirous of staying in the marriage.”