Swinging love affair ends in tears for couple

Prince loses his shine in court fight over assets

ONCE upon a time, she called him her prince, her priest and her prophet. But for this small-town couple, who met “swinging” and ditched their spouses, there is no fairy-tale ending to their tumultuous Mpumalanga love affair.

The couples – Mrs M and Dr V, and Mr M and Mrs H – met, started visiting each other’s homes, and exchanging sexual partners in 2007.

The North Gauteng High Court heard this week how eventually Mrs M and Mr M – a millionaire – decided to swop their respective partners for each other. They got married – the third marriage for both of them.

They were happy, but soon their relationship tur ned sour. After seven years, Mrs M divorced her husband, but she wanted a share of his wealth.

The court heard how she cited their ante-nuptial contract – they were married under accrual of assets.

Mrs M says the couples agreed they would start off their marriage by reflecting no assets in their joint estate.

By the time they got divorced, the estate stood at R7.5 million and Mrs M demanded half.

However, her for mer husband, Mr M, a lodge owner and businessman, disagreed, telling the court he was a “battered husband” and that his ex should forfeit her right to half of his assets.

Mr M claimed he had been conned into signing the ante-nuptial agreement.

If the court ordered Mrs M was entitled to his money, it should accept that he already had more than R2.7m in the kitty when they got married. This amount should be subtracted from the R7.5m in the estate at the time of the divorce, he declared.

But the court ordered Mr M to pay Mrs M R3.5m from the estate.

The court heard how Mrs M expressed her emotions in dozens of letters she wrote to her husband – before and after their marriage – which were handed to court as exhibits.

Mrs M used the letters to show what an “adoring” wife she was and Mr M used it to prove his wife was “manipulative and abusive”.

In the letters she expressed her love for Mr M and said he “conducted the song in her heart”.

The actuary, who drew up the former couple’s contract, testified she explained the consequences in detail to the couple, but they insisted that they start off on a “nil” balance.

Mr M claimed his wife was insincere in her letters. He called a witness, who said he saw Mrs M occasionally slapping her husband through the face and throwing the contents of his glass at him. His eye was injured, but Mrs M told the court he was “once again drunk” and fell into his car door.

At the end of their marriage, Mr M told his wife she was “pathetic”, a “gold chaser” and a “dog”.

He accused her of only wanting his money, of wearing revealing clothes without underwear and having affairs.

Mrs M told the court he was a control freak and she could not even have coffee with her friends at the Wimpy in town.

The court accepted the evidence of the notary, that Mr M knew what he was doing when he signed the prenuptial.

The court said although Mrs M did slap her husband, it was striking from her letters how submissive she was.

“She almost worshipped him. I see a person with very low self-esteem.”

In referring to the husband, the court said he was clearly a control freak.

Mr M, ruled the court, could not expect his wife to forfeit the assets because she “misbehaved”, as they met under circumstances where they swopped partners.