A 25-YEAR-OLD woman has decided to come out of her marriage alive than lose her life at the hands of her abusive husband. Sharon Mupeta of Matero Township in Lusaka was granted divorce by the Boma Local Court and will be paid K5,000 in compensation by her husband. Mupeta sued for the dissolution of marriage to Morris Mumba whom she had spent six years in marriage with. The couple have three children together. She told the court that Mumba, 35, of John Laing used to beat her for no reason each time he came home drunk. “He beats me without any reasons when he is intoxicated with beer. He likes using an iron bar when beating me.

I don’t want to live with him anymore because he might kill me one day,” Mupeta said. She told the court that her husband used to hide weapons underneath the bed which he used when beating her. Mupeta said her marriage has been on and off, saying she was running to her parents whenever he started beating her.

“When I go to my parents’ house, he comes and asks for forgiveness and I forgive him. Our families have on several occasions tried to counsel him but to no avail,” she said. Mupeta told the court that Mumba used to say that he would not stop beating her until he made her disabled. She said she felt divorce was the best solution for the marriage because her husband refused to change. But in his defence Mumba told the court that he still loves his wife and felt that divorce was not the best solution.

“It’s our children who will suffer when the court grants us a divorce. Mupeta cannot manage to take care of the children alone,” he said. Mumba told the court that the only challenge in her marriage was that his wife was fond of selling household goods. He said his wife has a bad behaviour and does not listen to his advice as the head of the house. In passing judgment, Magistrate Gastone Kalala granted the couple divorce on grounds that there is violence in the marriage. Mumba was ordered to compensate Mupeta with K5,000 and K350 monthly for children maintenance