Court Listens to Claims of Abuse in the Case of a Man Found Dead in a Garden Area

The Lusaka High Court has been informed that George Kalaba, whose skeletal remains were discovered in a house in Garden Compound, had told a friend about being treated badly by his wife, Sylvia Mutaba, before he died.

This is regarding a case where Ms. Mutaba, who lives in Lusaka’s Garden Compound, was reportedly found with her husband’s skeletal remains.

Patrick Banda, 52, a friend of the deceased from Kamanga, testified that in August 2022, Mr. Kalaba came to visit him while limping.

He mentioned that the visit lasted overnight since it was late.

Mr. Banda told the court that when he asked Mr. Kalaba about his limp, he said his wife had hit him with a stool.

Another witness, Kelvin Ngosa, 38, also from Garden Compound, testified that he could not reach Mr. Kalaba in August 2023 because Ms. Mutaba kept saying her husband was not home.

Mr. Ngosa explained that he could only contact Mr. Kalaba through his wife’s phone since he did not have a mobile phone.

Another friend, Harrison Wasa, 40, from Luangwa in Garden Compound, told the court that when he visited Mr. Kalaba in September 2023, he looked sick.

Mr. Wasa said that when he asked Ms. Mutaba why her husband wasn’t taken to the hospital, she replied that she was waiting for his brothers to arrive.

He mentioned that the next time he heard about Mr. Kalaba was in January 2025 when he got a call saying the police had raided Mr. Kalaba’s house, where his skeletal remains were found.

In this case, Ms. Mutaba is accused of manslaughter for allegedly causing her husband George Kalaba’s death.

She was arrested in January 2025 along with her four children and a neighbor.

Her co-accused were charged with not reporting Mr. Kalaba’s death and have since been sentenced to one month in jail.

High Court Judge Anne Ononuju has postponed the case to 16th September 2025 for further proceedings.