Wife’s last laugh as hubby is jailed

He plotted divorce fraud with nyatsi

A prominent Pretoria lawyer thought he was pulling a fast one on his wife when he fraudulently divorced her‚ but she had the last laugh when the plan backfired‚ landing him and his mistress in jail.

Mpho Mofomme‚ 58‚ got his mistress Sebi Moche‚ 48‚ a primary school teacher‚ to pretend to be his wife‚ Marilyn Mofomme‚ and had her (Moche) served with divorce papers instead of his wife.

Mofomme had planned to cheat his wife out of their valuable joint estate which includes several properties‚ a trust and a business.

The duo are now serving three and two-year jail terms for fraud in a case that dragged on for almost a decade.

“I am just glad that this whole thing is over and that my crooked husband and his mistress‚ who destroyed my marriage‚ are finally paying for the unimaginable suffering they have caused me‚” Marilyn said yesterday.

In August 2015, the Garankuwa Magistrate’s Court found the lovebirds guilty of fraud and sentenced them to eight years in prison each.

The duo were granted leave to appeal the sentences and successfully lobbied the Mafikeng High Court to reduce the sentences to five years – two of which were suspended for Mofomme and three for Moche.

Last month, they failed to convince the Supreme Court of Appeal to overturn the sentences‚ resulting in Mofomme swapping his lawyer’s gown for orange jail overalls.

Marylin said: “I was married to this man for 25 years but he tried to pull a rug under my feet. His mistress lived in my house in Hartbeespoort; she drove around in my cars and colluded with my husband to get rid of me. Who is having the last laugh now?”

The drama started in late 2011 when a friend at a funeral approached Mofomme’s wife‚ consoling her on their divorce. Stunned‚ she went to check with the Garankuwa Magistrate’s Court where it was confirmed that she was divorced.

In January 2011, Garankuwa sheriff Refiloe Moeletsi received a letter from Mofomme Attorneys‚ instructing the sheriff’s office to serve summons on Mofomme’s wife.

Moche answered the call and, armed with a fraudulent ID‚ went to collect the summons to finalise the divorce.

Marilyn is now divorcing her jailed husband.