Man gets life in prison for murdering wife

A LUSAKA man has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering his wife.

Before Lusaka High Court judge Mungeni Mulenga was Isaac Zimba, who killed his wife Helen Chisenga between May 11 and 13, 2014, after he beat and kicked her several times.

Zimba pleaded not guilty to the charge but seven witnesses testified against him.
According to the record, the deceased and accused’s daughter aged nine, had testified that on the fateful day, her father, whom she identified in the dock, was quarrelling with her mother Helen.

The court heard that Zimba asked his daughter why she was not going to school and later demanded that his wife gives him his flash disk, a television set and shoes.
The court further heard that it was at this point that the accused started beating the wife and hit her head against the wall twice.

The daughter had also testified that when her father was about to hit her mother with an iron bar, she asked him to stop.

It was also heard that neighbours came and asked the accused to stop beating his wife.

The following morning, the child, together with her mother and an uncle went to her mother’s grandparents’ house and that at that time, her mother’s face was swollen and the eyes were red.

The court heard that Zimba followed the trio to the grandparents’ place where he continued beating the wife by kicking and slapping her.
The child testified that her father also beat her up.

The court heard also that the accused and the wife then went to George police post to report that the deceased sold a household fridge and a flash disk.
Helen later died at University Teaching Hospital and a postmortem report revealed the cause of death as head injuries.

But when placed on defence, Zimba testified that on the material day around 21:00 hours when he got home, he found his daughter awake and when he inquired why she was not sleeping in preparation for school the next day, she told him that her mother did not collect her school shoes from her grandmother’s place.

The court heard that when Zimba asked his wife why she had not collected the shoes, she told him that he was making noise for her and that he was not a real man.

Zimba further said when he asked his wife why she answered him like that, Helen stood up and started staggering like a drunk person and then slapped him and got hold of his manhood.

He said he pushed her and that she fell where the fridge was.

The court also heard that Helen, the following day apologised to her husband.
It was further heard that Helen then went to get her daughter’s shoes from her grandparents’ place but that she did not return.

He told court that after some time, he received a call [from someone telling him that his wife] had died.

But in her judgment, judge Mulenga said it was clear that Zimba had beaten his wife for a significant time on the night in issue as per evidence of her daughter.

The judge said Zimba again beat up his wife the following morning when he followed her at her grandparents’ place.

She said the prosecution had discharged the burden and proved that Zimba had the requisite malice aforethought as he intended to occasion grievous harm to the wife but death instead resulted.

Judge Mulenga said the allegation that Helen was the aggressor was an afterthought on the part of Zimba and sentenced him to life in prison after finding him guilty of murder.

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