Rudo Boka & Noah Mutambanengwe In Happier Times (Image Credit: Kukurigo)Harare High Court judge Justice Clement Phiri delivered a ruling which many women will approve of after he ordered a “small house” to pay US$50 000 as adultery damages for having an extramarital affair with a married man.
Delta Beverages finance and administration manager Lorraine Chitereka was dragged to the courts by businesswoman Rudo Mutambanengwe (nee Boka) for having an affair with Noah Mutambanengwe.
Boka sued Chitereka through her lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu and asked her to stop having the adulterous affair. In a letter of demand Rudo’s lawyers wrote :
“It has come to our client’s knowledge that you are currently engaged in an adulterous affair with Noah with the knowledge of the marriage that subsists between him and our client.
“We are further informed that such an affair resulted in our client’s husband moving out of the matrimonial home around August 2017 on the pretext of needing space to deal with the emotional loss of having his children from his prior marriage relocate to America without his consent and also purportedly to start a business when in fact he was residing with you.
“Our client is also informed that you purport to be customarily married to our client’s husband and claim that you are in a polygamous marriage. To this end, we are advised that you commenced referring to yourself with double barrel name, Lorrain Chitereka-Mutembanengwe on social media thereby publicising the affair and bringing it to our client’s knowledge.
“Further you have been utilising resources that belong to our client in facilitating the adulterous affair. The conduct offends the sacred institution of marriage and has caused our client considerable emotional injury and denied the couple’s two-year-old son, love, affection, attention and provision from his father.”
However, Chitereka ignored the plea to stop having the affair and did not bother to respond to the lawsuit. As a result, Boka approached the High Court seeking a default judgement and Justice Phiri ruled in her favour. In making his ruling, Justice Phiri is quoted by Kukurigo as saying,
Whereupon after reading documents filed of record and hearing counsel, it is ordered that: defendant (Chitereka) shall pay to plaintiff (Boka) the sum of US$25 000 for contumelia, US$25 000 for loss of comfort, companionship and services of her spouse.
When reached for comment, Boka declined to say anything saying that she wants to keep her personal matters private.
