Tongues land Kitwe woman in trouble

By ALEX NJOVU

A born-again woman has told a local court that her husband chains her hands and legs on suspicion that she is mentally deranged because of her way of praying which involves “speaking in tongues” and on top of her voice.
Ruth Chavula, who is an ardent member of Living Water Pentecostal Church in Kawama Township in Kitwe, said her husband accuses her of being insane because of the way she prays.
She said this in a case in which her husband, Martifel Nyasulu, sued her for divorce. Both are Kawama Township residents.
“My lord, my husband usually chains both my hands and my legs when I pray in tongues and on top of my voice. He suspects that I am insane because of the way I pray. This is wrong and unfair because I am not mad,” she said.
Chavula told the Buchi local court number two senior presiding magistrate, Maketo Likomba, who was sitting with senior presiding magistrate Godwin Lundu, that she has never had sex with her husband for two years because he has deserted her.
She said her husband does not support her and that it is not true that she has a boyfriend as alleged by her husband.
Chavula, who refused to give her statement until the court started re-examining her, said one day her neighbours locked her in a house with a man who wanted to start renting their house and that they phoned her husband, who found the two inside the house.
“We have two houses in Kawama Township. One of the houses fell vacant and I went with a certain man who wanted to look at it because he wanted to start renting it, but while we were inside viewing the house, some of our neighbours locked us from outside and phoned my husband, who came and found us inside with the man and he started accusing me of being unfaithful to him,” she said.
The two got married in 1998 and have four children. They got married through customary marriage and they do not have a marriage certificate.
In his statement, Nyasulu said they lived in harmony for three years and that problems started when they had their first child.
He accused Chavula of being adulterous. He said that at one time around 19:30 hours he found her sitting on the laps of a man and that the two were holding each other passionately.
“When I wanted to chase the man and to remove her from the man’s laps, my wife got upset with me and hit me in the back with a big log. In the ensuing confusion the man escaped,” he said.
Nyasulu said his children told him that there was a man who was visiting his wife each time he was not at home.
“My wife spends nights away from home without telling me. She has threatened to kill herself and sometimes she would pack her household goods and go to her relatives. When I call for a meeting with her relatives to iron out the differences, her people don’t come,” he said.
Nyasulu also said that on another occasion he found her in the house with a man whose identity she has refused to disclose.
The court adjourned the matter and directed that Chavula’s pastor goes to the court and confirm whether she is mentally challenged.