Broken marriage promise triggers $50k lawsuit

By Daniel Nemukuyu

A married man who allegedly impregnated a woman after duping her that he was a bachelor and ready to marry, has been slapped with a $50 000 lawsuit for breach of marriage promise. Ms Tsitsi Nyakutsikwa, a recent university graduate, dated Antony Chasekwa, an employee of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA).

He allegedly misrepresented to the woman that he was single before promising to marry her. The woman, who is a member of the Catholic Church, claims she trusted Chasekwa to an extent of being intimate with him in violation of the church’s doctrine and values.

After taking the risk, the woman fell pregnant and Chasekwa dumped her. To that end, Ms Nyakutsikwa has filed a claim for damages against Chasekwa at the High Court.

She is claiming seduction damages to the tune of $20 000 plus $10 000 for time wasting and breach of promise to marry.

Ms Nyakutsikwa is also seeking an order for payment of $10 000 for psychological pain and suffering and another $10 000 for future pain and suffering.

She is claiming interest on the $50 000 plus an order for costs. Ms Nyakutsikwa said she took a big risk when she slept with Chasekwa.

“This act of having sex outside wedlock on its own is a great abomination in the Catholic church, where I belong,” she said. “It caused me deep psychological damage to the extent that at one time I felt suicidal as I would close myself from the rest of the world until I discussed the issue with my parents.

“The defendant and I became intimate on the understanding that I was his and he was mine until I fell pregnant.”

It later turned out that Chasekwa was married with two children, a development that shuttered Ms Nyakutsikwa’s dreams of getting married.

“I am ashamed of myself because of the actions of the defendant of ditching me,” she said. “I am a shame among my colleagues, friends and family. This idea will haunt me for the rest of my life and I shall require intensive counselling.”

At one point, Chasekwa allegedly admitted to impregnating Ms Nyakutsikwa through a token that was presented to the woman’s parents.

“The defendant gave Mrs Bandera (a family friend) $50 to take to my parents as a token of admission of guilt towards this out of wedlock pregnancy,” said Ms Nyakutsikwa.

Chasekwa is yet to respond to the claim. The Herald