By KAPALA CHISUNKA
A 33-YEAR-OLD woman of Kamwala South begged the Lusaka Boma Court not to grant custody of her three children to her former husband because she does not want to give satisfaction to the woman who broke her marriage.
Alice Kangwa told senior court magistrate Morgan Kayanika that she does not think that a woman capable of destroying her home can look after her young children the way she can.
This was in a case in which Kangwa was sued by her former husband Davis Mulenga, 34, of New Chilenje South for custody of the children. The two divorced last year and have three children together.
Kangwa was given custody of the children while Mulenga was granted visitation rights.
However, in his statement, Mulenga told the court that he wanted to have custody of the children because Kangwa does not allow him to have access to his children.
In her statement, Kangwa told the court that it was difficult for her as a mother to allow her children to be looked after by another woman when she is still alive and able to do it herself.
I cannot allow a woman who caused my marriage to end to look after my children, especially that the children also complain that she is not a good person. They are still young but they cook, wash and bathe themselves each time they visit their father, she said.
She said she would rather continue looking after the children and only allow them to be with their father when they are old enough to take care of themselves.
But in his statement, Mulenga told the court that Kangwa prevents him from having access to their children even when the court granted him permission.
He said each time he tries to take them to his home Kangwa follows them and collects them without his permission.
I am usually forced to go and visit them at school because even when she is not home, her relatives will not allow me to see my children. I also feel it is better for them to be with me because she is a business woman and usually leaves them with her relatives.
They are my children, so why should her relatives be the ones taking care of them when I am able to? he asked.
Passing judgment, the court, after interviewing the three children in camera, granted Mulenga custody of their first-born on probation for three months while the last two remain with their mother.
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