By Shakespeare Muzavazi
A Shurugwi man who stood accused of defaulting to pay maintenance in the sum of $300 left the court in stitches after he told the Magistrate that his wife vehemently bashed him if he paid maintenance to his second wife.
Richard Madiya (42) appeared before Shurugwi Magistrate Sangster Tavengwa for contravening section 23 (1) of the Maintenance Act Chapter 5:09 failure to pay maintenance.
The accused allegedly stopped maintaining his son for a period extending from the 18 of February 2017 to the 18th of May 2017.
Madiya was supposed to pay $75 per month for the welfare of his son.
When asked to tell the court a logical reason behind his failure to pay maintenance, Richard said his wife bashed him each month he paid for his son’s maintenance hence after several beatings he stopped paying to save his skin.
“Your worship, I wanted to pay for son’s welfare, I did not deliberately stop paying maintenance, my first wife would beat me if deducted the $75 from my salary to give to the second wife for the child’s welfare.
“After being beaten I decided to stop paying maintenance since my first wife threatened to banish me from our matrimonial home if I continued paying maintenance to the second wife,” Richard confessed to the court.
Madiya requested for permission from the court to pay his maintenance debt using one his cows and the court approved his request.
However, Magistrate Tavengwa cautioned Richard not to repeat the same crime of defaulting to pay maintenance, he also told the accused that his first wife was not above the law, and hence he should not break the law because he feared her.
