Unfair to share after betrayal
Husband fights back in divorce case
AMAGISTRATE has been asked to decide whether an East London woman should get half of her marriage’s joint estate after it was discovered that their two daughters were not fathered by the husband.
The woman and her husband are going through a divorce and as a result cannot be named to protect the identities of their children.
The one daughter is aged 26 and the other 15.
The woman is currently unemployed and is married to a medical doctor.
She wants their Mdantsane home immediately sold and the monies received shared on a 50/50 split. Furthermore she wants 50% of her husband’s pension monies upon his retirement.
The man is 52 years old and has been employed by the Eastern Cape department of health for 26 years. The woman is 45 years old. The matrimonial property dispute was heard before East London Regional Court 4 magistrate Sadia Jacobs yesterday.
The man is being represented by attorney Ntsikelelo Manyisane, while attorney Loyiso Godongwana is representing the woman.
The doctor took to the stand yesterday and told the court of how he was shattered when he discovered both daughters were not his after doing a paternity test in October 2014.
The woman has since moved out of the house with her youngest daughter.
The eldest daughter still lives in the house and the court later heard she had nowhere else to go as she did not see eye-to-eye with the mother.
The couple is married in community of property but the man wants the court to grant him an order that prohibits the woman from getting half of what he owns.
He said he filed for divorce when he suspected the woman of having an affair.
Asked during cross-examination by Godongwana why he did not want to share the joint estate, the doctor replied: “Why must I give her half whereas she has embarrassed and disgraced me by making me believe the children were mine all these years?”
Godongwana then asked: “Did you not acquire the bond for the house using your wife’s particulars?”
The doctor replied: “I am paying for everything in that house and I would have gotten the bond regardless.”
Manyisane asked his client how he was feeling about the whole dispute to which the doctor replied: “This has caused me psychological pain and has affected me in discharging my duties at work. I have also gone for psychological counselling and sometimes I cannot sleep at night thinking about all this.”
The case was postponed to June 13 for further evidence. —