I could have killed my husband
Mutinta pictured at her home. JACK ZIMBA W HAT would you do if your husband’s girlfriend invaded your bedroom in the middle of the night and savagely attacked you while you slept? That is the situation one woman of Lusaka was faced with. Now divorced for 10 years, Mutinta* talks about the pain of living in an abusive relationship. A fading bite mark on her wrist is a sad reminder of her deeply troubled marriage. She has similar marks on both thighs, inflicted on her by her husband’s lover. One night, when she couldn’t take the abuse anymore, Mutinta became like a cornered animal and hit back, savagely beating her husband. “He wanted to hit me, and I was upset, I was shaking. I have never felt that angry before. I just reached for a helmet under the bed, closed my eyes and just started hammering,” she says. “I used to ride a motorbike back then, and I would park the motorbike outside, but I kept the helmet under the bed. “I think it was a combinatio...