A Livingstone  pastor, Michae S i m a n y a t i h a s taken an Avani Hotel employee Godfrey Masule to court claiming K100,000 as compensation for alleged abduction of his wife of 16 years. Simanyati sued Masule for allegedly abducting his wife, Florence Muduli, who is also a worker at Avani Hotel. He narrated before the court that he married Muduli in 2003 and paid K1,000 out of the K4,000 he was charged as bride price. Simanyati said the two have no child together as the only child they had died. He charged before the court that Muduli and Masule have been in a relationship since 2016 despite Muduli being married to him.

Simanyati said he once discovered a contact number saved as ‘Daddy’ in one of Muduli’s old mobile phones and when he dialled the number he discovered that it was Masule’s. The court heard that despite the signs that proved that Muduli was cheating on him, what pushed him to seek justice from the court was the discovery that Muduli’s wedding ring had been thrown away in their garden. “People used to tell me that my wife lives in Elaine Brittel because most of the church members had been seeing her at a certain house in that same area when I had in fact told church members that she was in college,” Simanyati said.

He told the court that the two have lived apart since September, 2018. Simanyati said despite efforts by the church to reconcile the couple, Muduli’s family acted “cold” towards the attempt. Simanyati said Muduli’s father, John Muduli, had written a letter addressed to the church stating that Simanyati was free to look for another wife as the marriage between the two was over. And Muduli’s father told the court that despite the two living together for 16 years, Simanyati had only paid K1,000 which was intended as a charge for eloping.

He told the court that Simanyati was charged K5,000 of which K2,000 was for the equivalent of two cows valued at K1,000 each as a charge for elopement while the rest was bride price. But Masule told the court that he only met Muduli in April, this year after which the two got married in June this year. He said after the two met, Masule asked Muduli whether she was married or not and Muduli responded in the negative. Masule told the court that he was charged K11,000 as bride price and he paid K1,500 as down payment.

In passing judgement senior local court magistrate Langson Matafwali reduced the claim and ordered Masule to compensate Simanyati with K40,000. Magistrate Matafwali ordered Masule to pay an initial payment of K1,000 towards compensation by September 30, this year and thereafter pay K500 monthly instalments from October, 30 this year