A HARARE woman, Happygill Muyengwa, has filed summons at the High Court, claiming US$15 000 from her husband’s girlfriend, Elmina Kusikwenyu, for loss of companionship and consortium.
Muyengwa is also demanded ZW$15 000 adultery damages, adding that she warned Kusikwenyu that she was Roy Dzinemarira-Gwata’s wife but the pair continued the illicit affair.
Muyengwa told the court that Kusikwenyu has been involved in an extramarital affair with her husband, Roy Dzinemarira-Gwata , since 2014 and they now have a child.
The court was told Muyengwa’s husband has also paid lobola for Kusikwenyu and they have since moved in together.
High Court judge, Justice Catherine Kate Bachi-Mzawazi, however, removed her case from the roll for being defective after she made requests in United States currency and local currency in the same summons.
“I removed the matter from the roll for the reasons that Muyengwa, in her summons couched her claim as firstly, ZW$15 000 for adultery damages and secondly US$15 000 for loss of companionship and consortium. In my view she had not properly pleaded her claim as she then tried to do in her affidavit of evidence,” Justice Bachi-Mzawazi said.
“In my view, that made the summons defective. I felt that the defect in the summons cannot be cured.
“Even though this was an application for default judgment, it was based on defective summons. For these reasons, I advised the applicant to approach legal aid organisations so that she may be assisted.
“As a result, instead of dismissing or striking off her application I simply removed it from the roll giving her a leverage or opportunity to reset the matter once her papers have been put in order,” said the judge.
