Online Reporter
Spiwe Sarakunze
Herald Reporter
A GLEN VIEW woman has won reprieve from her niece, whom she accused of trying to destroy her marriage and take over her matrimonial home.
Sunday Sande told Harare Civil Court magistrate, Ms Johanna Mukwesha, that her niece Adijah Sande had not only seduced her husband, but had also moved into their marital home and declared herself the new lady of the house.
“I took this girl in when her parents passed away. I took care of her and sent her to school with the little money I had,” Sande said.
“Now she dares to call herself my husband’s wife.”
According to Sunday, this was not only a betrayal, but a complete erosion of traditional family values.
She alleged that her niece, a known commercial sex worker in the area, had turned her house into a lodging facility for her fellow sex workers.
She claimed that some of her niece’s clients had turned her once peaceful family home into a shebeen by playing loud music, drinking alcohol and late-night disturbances.
“My home has become a disgrace. I can’t even invite my churchmates or neighbours because there are always strange men coming in and going out. I am living like a squatter in my own house.”
Sande explained that her husband loves her niece and does not mind that she is a commercial sex worker.
“I don’t know what charm this girl has used, but my husband no longer loves me. He no longer speaks to me, gives me money for groceries or bills, and now she is collecting rentals from tenants in the cottage,” said Sande.
Sande accused her niece of physical and verbal abuse and described several occasions where she allegedly assaulted her during disputes over household matters and insulted her using vulgar language in public.
“She calls me old, useless, and finished. How can a niece disrespect her aunt like this?” she asked.
“She calls me names in front of the tenants and even told me to pack my bags and leave her house.”
She sought legal relief through the courts, demanding that her niece vacate the matrimonial home and stop parading herself as the legitimate wife of the house.
In her defence, Sande’s niece told the court that she was not the aggressor but rather a victim of an already broken marriage.
She claimed that her aunt’s husband had pursued her willingly after years of being emotionally neglected by his wife.
She denied running a brothel, saying that her friends merely visited her occasionally and that her aunt was exaggerating to gain public sympathy.
“I’m not the problem. My uncle and aunt had been fighting for years before I came into the picture. He came to me because he found peace with me.”
She dismissed the allegations of assault, insisting that her aunt was the one who often provoked and attacked her first.
However, Ms Mukwesha favoured Sande and granted an order in her favour.
The presiding magistrate warned the respondent to respect her aunt and not to bring many people into the house.
