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Shamiso Dzingire Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO woman was yesterday stunned after her husband chose his mistress over her in front of a magistrate.
Noah Jakarasi’s mistress, Mirriam Mpengesi, 21, from Mahatshula suburb, was in court for sending a grossly offensive text message to Jakarasi’s wife, Happy Khumalo, 33.
Western Commonage magistrate Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze remanded Mpengesi in custody to today for sentencing after she pleaded guilty to violating the Postal and Telecommunications Act.
But the magistrate struggled to figure out who of the two women was the official wife to Jakarasi after Mpengesi told the court in mitigation that she was also married to Jakarasi.
“Are you married to the complainant’s husband? Does he have two wives? Are the facts in the state outline wrong, Mr Prosecutor?” asked Msipa-Marondedze.
Jakarasi was called to the witness stand to verify what Mpengesi had said in mitigation and he insisted that Mpengesi was indeed his wife.
“Is she your wife or she is your live-in-girlfriend? Did you pay lobola for her?” asked the magistrate to which Jakarasi replied in the affirmative.
To seek further clarity on the matter, the magistrate recalled Khumalo to the witness stand.
“I’m his wife. It’s my first time to hear that Mpengesi is also his wife. He hadn’t told me about it. I recently found out that they’re staying together at his workplace in Mahatshula. I now stay at my parents’ residence in Old Lobengula since we were kicked out of where we used to stay. He comes to visit us every now and then,” said Khumalo.
The relationship of the three remained a puzzle to the court officials.
Magistrate Msipa-Marondedze had to analyse the message at length in a bid to determine the real wife.
She said: “From the language used by Mpengesi in sending the message, you can tell that she is the girlfriend. The message is typical of that of a girlfriend sending a message to her lover’s wife, not the other way round. You can tell from the tone and language used that she (Mpengesi) is definitely the girlfriend.”
Prosecutor Mufaro Mageza submitted that it appeared there was a dispute between Khumalo and her husband as Jakarasi was clearly taking sides with his mistress.
Mageza said on July 3, Khumalo received a grossly offensive text message from Mpengesi.
Part of the message read:
“You dog! What kind of a wh*** are you? What kind of a useless dog are you? I am better than you. You no longer have taste, no wonder he deserted you. Your mother gave birth to you while peeing. That is why you have ugly children.”
Mpengesi went on to call Khumalo a “rapist” and insulted her using words that cannot be printed in a respected publication like The Chronicle.
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