Luphahla had child with married woman

Former Warriors and Highlanders winger, Joel Luphahla is at the centre of a squabble involving the custody of a 6-month old baby whose mother died after secretly marrying another man.

What has further shattered the speedy winger is that he even attended the funeral of his late girlfriend without any clue that the woman was in fact married to another Bulawayo man now living in Canada.

The woman’s husband reportedly clashed with Luphahla and the incident attracted a media frenzy in Zimbabwe recently. On being questioned by reporters, Luphahla preferred to call it a misunderstanding and not a fight between him and the deceased woman’s hubby.

“ I do not want to say it was a fight, but a misunderstanding over the late woman and the paternity of her child. I innocently went to the funeral not knowing that she was married and when I got there an argument ensued between me and the husband who I now understand is based in Canada.

“I met the woman three years ago while I was playing football in South Africa. She used to stay with me and I never suspected that something was amiss as she always behaved normal and told me that she loved me, not knowing that she was married,” he said.

To his shock, Luphahla was then official told that the woman he had been dating for the past three years was in fact married.

 

What shattered the maverick striker was, according to him, he on many occasions stayed with the woman in his South African base and the woman insisted that she loved him.

Then last week, an irate Luphahla reportedly caused a scene outside the home of his alleged late lover demanding custody of a child he sired with the now deceased woman.

Luphahla had been dating the woman for three years before she was involved in a fatal accident that claimed her life and four other passengers. However, the latest incident is believed to have taken place at his late lover’s home in Barbourfileds last week.

When contacted by The Zim Diaspora Luphahla denied causing a scene at his late girlfriend’s house.

“Those are lies. Who told you that. I was only going to visit my child but the mother denied me access and I left,” he said before hanging up.

According to sources that witnessed the incident, Luphahla is alleged to have visited the home last Saturday evening, demanding to be given custody of “his child”.

“He arrived in the evening, I can’t remember what time exactly. He was denied entry into the house and he kept blowing the horn (hooter) from his car. He wanted custody of the six-month old baby that he claims to have fathered,” said a witness.

When Luphahla realised that his efforts were fruitless, the witness said, he decided to leave but his car broke down before he could drive off.

“He ended up getting stuck there for almost an hour, we watched him from a distance and he seemed confused and did not know what to do so we decided to offer him some assistance,” the witness said.

The Zimdiaspora visited the deceased woman’s home in Barbourfields suburb and met her mother who declined to comment.

“The damage has been done, why would you want to come here and seek a comment from me? My daughter is long gone and newspapers published a story, I will not comment on anything,” she said.

However, sources close to the family revealed that, as a result of the Luphahla debacle the original husband was now demanding bride price he paid to the deceased woman’s family.

“The husband’s family is demanding the money they paid for bride price. They were here about a week ago demanding their money back. It’s really embarrassing what that woman did and now it has destroyed family bonds.”

The deceased, according to close family sources, had married her Candadian husband early last year before the husband migrated to Canada. At the time of the woman’s death, it is undertood that the husband was busy processing a family reunion Canadian visa.

“We are aware that he was sorting out his wife and baby’s papers when all this disgrace was unearthed. The mother knew of her daughter’s escapades and did nothing to restrain her,”said the source. Zim Diaspora.com