At a time when women are celebrating Women’s Month countrywide, a woman lies dead at a mortuary, allegedly killed by somebody she once called a lover; somebody who was supposed to care for her and protect her. This is the sad reality facing our country today, where men have no respect for life and think they can do as they wish at any given time.

Lufuno Tsevheli (28) of Matshena Village outside Musina is but one of the ever-increasing number of women in the country who have been killed by people they trust. She died tragically after her boyfriend had allegedly fired three bullets into her body before fleeing the scene. The incident happened at the Gombameni Eating House at Muswodi Dipeni near Musina on Monday.

Shandukani Tsevheli, Lufuno’s sister, said that the relationship between the two was the envy of the community, as they were always together. She said that it was only recently that their relationship soured and they could not see eye to eye anymore. “This surprised us very much, as we could not find the reason for their split. All I can say now is that my sister was always complaining that she had had enough of her boyfriend, who was always assaulting her and threatening to kill her,” she said.

She said that matters became worse after the boyfriend started following her to her place of employment. “She would always complain that her boyfriend was harassing her on the phone until she gathered enough courage, and obtained a protection order against him,” she said.

Shandukani said that her sister phoned her to tell her that her boyfriend was not abiding by the court order, and was continuously giving her a headache. She told me that she was going to report him at the local satellite police station. She said the two were called to the satellite station on Monday and their matter seemed to have been resolved amicably. “I was very shocked to receive the bad news that my sister had been shot and killed in cold blood, not far from the satellite station,” she said.

“We are still very shocked and it is very hard to believe that my beautiful sister is gone forever,” she said. She said that the family only depended on her, as she was the only one working in the family. “Life will be very hard from now onwards, as we have three other children from my late sister. We all depended on her; she was the pillar of the family,” she said. “Lufuno was like a father figure to all of us and we will miss her dearly,” she said.

Ms Muofhe Tsevheli, mother of the deceased, was overcome with grief. “My son, what else can I say? My other half is gone; she was everything to me and life will never be the same. May this man receive the ultimate penalty and rot in hell,” she said.

The chairperson of Munna Ndi Nnyi Men’s Forum, Mr Bardwell Mufunwaini, said that it was sad to see that some men were still determined to solve their problems through the barrel of the gun. “As we go out preaching the gospel against violence, some people who claim to be men are going out, killing our people. We have to stop them in their tracks once and for all,” he said.

Const Peggy Ramavhunga of the Tshamutumbu police confirmed the incident. She said that a 35-year-old man, who is working as a nurse at Muswodi Clinic, has been arrested and will appear in court soon.

She urged all couples with problems not to hide them from others, but to share them so that they could be resolved. “There are many trained personnel waiting to assist whoever has a problem. Let us all utilize them and not resort to violence as a way out,” she said.