A woman of Sitangoyi Village in Southern Province told the Livingstone Local Court that she had sex with her lover once when her husband was away.

And the woman also told the court that she later fought with her lover’s wife after the latter found a picture of her with her husband.

The Court, however, ordered the said woman’s husband to compensate the lover with K5,000 for falsely accusing him of having an affair with his wife.

This is the matter in which Jack Mutukwa of Sitangoyi Village, Chief Mukuni of Southern Province, had sued Lubinda Siboli of the same village, claiming K15,000 compensation for accusing him of sleeping with his wife, Irene Situngu, in 2017.

When the matter came up before Senior Local Court Magistrate Essau Daka recently, Mutukwa informed the Court that some time last year, Lubinda approached him, saying he had been caught committing adultery with his wife.

He said when he told him that it was not true, Lubinda still went ahead and reported him to the headman where he demanded payment of K30,000 for committing adultery with his wife, Irene.

Mutukwa said when he refused to pay the money, Lubinda sued him in Kazungula Local Court where he was ordered to compensate him K10,000, but he appealed.

“I was not happy with the order of Kazungula Local Court so I appealed to Livingstone Subordinate Court. At Livingstone Subordinate Court, I won the appeal. In delivering judgement, Honorable Magistrate S.M Mukela said the claim didn’t warrant compensation for insufficient evidence,” Mutukwa said.

He said he wanted Lubinda to compensate him with K15,000 for defamation of character.

“I was awarded costs and later advised to sue for defamation of character. I want Lubinda Siboli to compensate me with K15,000 for defamation of character,” he said.

When asked about the matter, Lubinda denied defaming Mutukwa, saying Mutukwa’s wife was the one who reported to him that his wife, Irene’s photograph was with him.

“She complained to me that her husband was was having an affair with my wife. When I asked him, he denied. I reported him to the headman, but he still denied,” he said.

Lubinda informed the Court that when he later sued Mutukwa for adultery, his wife confessed in court having sex with him the night when he was away, and the court awarded him K10,000 compensation for adultery.

Meanwhile, Lubinda’s wife, Irene Situngu, told the Court that Mutukwa proposed love to her in 2017, but only gave in to his proposal in 2018.

She disclosed that she later had sex with him when her husband was away and gave him her photo.

“Jack (Mutukwa) asked for my photo, which I gave him willingly. Later, his wife asked me about my photo, which was with him and we fought on my way to the stream to draw water. He even asked for forgiveness from my husband. My husband later asked for K30,000, but Jack said it was too much and he reduced to K20,000, but he refused and suggested K3,000, and they could not agree. Jack was sued and ordered to compensate my husband with K10,000,” said Situngu.

But in his ruling, Magistrate Daka upheld Mutukwa’s claim and ordered Lubinda to compensate Mutukwa with K5,000 for defamation of character, to be paid in monthly instalments of K250.