The wife to UPND Provincial Coordinator for Luapula George Nsonga has told the court that her relationship with her husband was cordial prior to the case before the court in which he is alleged to have defiled her 13 year old niece.
Meanwhile, the Mansa Magistrate Court has granted Mr. Nsonga a K20,000 bail in his own cognizance with three working sureties in the sum of K20,000 each also in their own cognizance.
Testifying before Mansa Magistrate Moses Mulenga on Thursday, Mable Tende, 36, of Kalikeka Village in Mansa District said although she was aware that her husband had another wife in Nchelenge District, this did not affect their relationship.
Ms. Tende said this when she was being cross examined by the defense lawyer Edward Banda who had put it to her that her relationship with her husband was not cordial and in-fact he had threatened to divorce her.
She however told the court that all was well with her husband upto the time when she learnt that he had allegedly defiled her niece.
“Your Honour, I have never differed with my husband prior to this incident that happened,” she told the court.
In her evidence-in-chief in which she was led by Public Prosecutor Jane Mkandawire, Ms. Tende told the court that on March 10, 2022 between 02:00 hours and 03:00 hours when she woke up to check on her child who was sleeping in the opposite bedroom, she discovered a panty that belonged to the victim near the door leading to their matrimonial bedroom.
She said what came to her mind when she saw the underwear was that her niece was careless to leave it on the floor.
Ms. Tende also told the court that she saw her husband put on his white dust coat at around 05:00 hours and took their son whom they sleep with in the same bedroom to the toilet and came back
She said he again went outside and started cleaning the surrounding and she also woke up and went outside to sweep.
“I also went to sweep the surrounding, Susan was sweeping inside the house and the victim was cleaning the dishes outside the house. And when I saw her walking, I noticed that she was limping and assumed that she had become of age,” said Ms. Tende.
However, Ms. Tende said she never asked the juvenile if that was the case as she was about to go to school.
But She told the court that when her niece came back from school later in the day, Susan, one of her dependants told her that the juvenile was limping because her private part was swollen.
Ms. Tende said she deliberately left the house and came back later in the evening around 18:00 hours and found the victim and Susan preparing food.
“I came to the house with a lot of joy and started joking with the victim then I asked her what happened to her and she said nothing,” she narrated.
“I made several attempts for her to tell me what could have happened which made her to be limping but she never disclosed,” said Ms. Tende.
She said the following morning, she was compelled to take the victim to her neighbor so that she could help persuade her to disclose what was making her limp.
“It was there at my neighbour where l discovered that her private parts were swollen and there were some small soles around the same,” she said.
Ms. Tende disclosed that efforts to persuade her niece to disclose who could have done such a terrible thing to her yielded no results.
“I then decided to leave my niece with my neighbour hoping that she will feel free to disclose of which she did. My neighbour called me back and asked my niece to narrate exactly what she had disclosed to her.
She said from the neighbour’s house they proceeded to report the matter to the police then later to the hospital for the medical examination.
And the third State witness Jessica Bwale, 46, who happens to be the Mother in Law to the accused told the court that on the date in question in the morning, Ms Tende, the aunty to the victim, went to her place and told her that the victim was limping like she had a sole on her private parts and did not know the cause as the child did not disclose.
“And truly, when I checked I saw that the child was swollen, her labia was swollen and she had soles on the outer parts. I asked her what had happened and if at all she had climbed a tree to sustain such injuries but she refused that she never climbed a tree,” she narrated.
She advised the aunty that they take the girl to the hospital as she was not okay. And when they started walking that is when the girl confided in her on what had transpired.
“We came out of the house and started walking, the girl grabbed me in my waist and said she will tell me what happened. She then disclosed it was her uncle, George Nsonga, who did that to her and he threatened to kill her if she tells anyone about it,” she narrated.
Ms. Bwale said she then called the girl’s aunty back and told her to ask the child exactly what she had narrated of which the child did.
She said they proceeded to the police then the hospital where the girl was examined.
And in his ruling on the bail application by the accused which was made when he first appeared in court, magistrate Mulenga said he heard the application for bail from the defense and also from the submissions from the State.
“I must say that this matter is bailable and the accused is not guilty but ‘suspected’ until proven otherwise and therefore he should be granted bail,” he said.
Magistrate Mulenga further said that one of the conditions for the accused was to provide three working sureties, who should be Civil Servants in the sum of K20,000 each in their own recognition.
The court has since adjourned the matter for continued trial to Friday, March 25, 2022.
Particulars of the offense are that on March 9, 2022 in Mansa District, Nsonga willfully and unlawfully had carnal knowledge of a minor below the age of 16 contrary to Section 138 clause 1 of the Penal Code, Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia, as amended by Act No. 15 of 2005 and Act No. 2 of 2011.
Source:Zambia reports
