Court blocks husband from accessing wife’s phone without her consent

A Harare woman has secured a protection order against her husband whom she accused of repeatedly invading her privacy by accessing her phone without her consent, as well as verbally and physically abusing her.

Constance Suwety took her husband, one Moses, to the Harare Civil Court.

Suwety told magistrate Meenal Narotam that she is tired of Moses’controlling behavior.

She alleged that Moses constantly accuses her of infidelity and insulting her using vulgar words.

Moses allegedly assaulted Suwety when she refused to hand over her phone.

“He always suspects that I am cheating and when I refuse to give him my phone, he hits me and calls her all sorts of names,” she told the court.

She claimed that Moses not only scrolled through her messages but also responded to some of them disrespectfully and even blocked certain numbers.

“Moses goes through my chats, replying to people rudely and telling them to stay away from me. Some of these are my church mates and clients,” she said.

She pleaded with the court to restrain her husband from forcibly accessing her phone and to recognise her right to privacy.

“I want the court to help me explain to Moses that being married does not give him the right to demand my phone, insult me, or assault me,” Suwety said.

Moses did not deny the accusations and admitted that he hurt his wife once out of frustration after reading some messages in her phone.

“I went through her phone and found out that she was entertaining other men,” he said.

“I did not like what I saw and I hit her out of frustration. I apologised and never hit her again.”

Ms Narotam granted the protection order in Suwety’s favour.

She ordered Moses to stop accessing his wife’s phone without her permission, refrain from making baseless accusations of infidelity, and desist from any form of violence against her.

The Herald