A 22-YEAR-OLD University of Zambia student has been taken to court for allegedly smashing the windscreen of a vehicle belonging to her boyfriend’s wife. After allegedly damaging the windscreen and other car components, Diana Kashinka got several documents, among them an antenatal card and a white book, and shredded them.

This is in a case Kashinka of Kabanana Township is charged with malicious damage to property. On July 27 last year, in Lusaka, Kashinka allegedly damaged a windscreen, compartment and front bumper of a Toyota Auris, all valued at K10,000. The vehicle belongs to Sherine Musonda. On Monday, the matter came up before Lusaka Magistrate Nsunge Chanda for trial. In her testimony, Ms Musonda told the court that on the material day while at home in the evening, her husband drove off with her car.

She said after about two hours, she realised that her phone charger was in the car the husband was driving. Ms Musonda later phoned her husband to inform him that she needed the charger because her phone battery was low. She said after the conversation, her husband forgot to cut the call. “I then heard [on the other side of the phone call] Diana shouting ‘why does he [my husband] pick up my calls when she is with him?’,” Ms Musonda said. She said she later cut the call.

“I sent him (husband) a text to ask if he was alright since I heard him fighting with someone in the background during our phone conversation,” Ms Musonda said, but that her husband never responded to the message. She said her husband returned home at midnight. “I asked for my car keys, which he handed over after some resistance. I then went outside to look at the car,” Ms Musonda said. She found the car windscreen damaged and copies of her degree and Grade 12 certificate which were in the vehicle had been torn.

“My antenatal card was torn and Diana even knew that her boyfriend [my husband] had a pregnant wife at home,” Ms Musonda, who was at the time six months pregnant, said. She said when she confronted her husband about the damaged car, he confessed that Diana smashed it when he met her so that he could end their relationship. Ms Musonda said her husband claimed that Diana got upset when she learnt that he was speaking with her (wife) on phone. She later reported the matter to the police because she had had enough of Diana’s misconduct.

“I tolerated her for years for going out with my husband but I will not condone her for damaging my car,” Ms Musonda said as Magistrate Chanda asked where her husband was. “He is at home,” she responded.

Meanwhile, former National Restoration Party president Elias Chipimo’s 23-year-old son Chito yesterday appeared in court for allegedly trafficking in 1.43 grammes of cocaine. Chito is charged with trafficking in narcotic drugs, possession of psychotropic substances and unlawful use of a motor vehicle. On December 27 last year, Chito trafficked in 1.43 grammes of cocaine without lawful authority.

It is also alleged that on the same date, Chito unlawfully had 0.11 grammes of amphetamine, a highly addictive powerful stimulator of the central nervous system. It is further alleged that the following day, Chito unlawfully used a Toyota Blade to carry, conceal and convey amphetamine. Yesterday, Chito appeared before Lusaka Magistrate Albert Mwaba and denied the charge.