Parents marry off daughter twice

A Harare man revealed how he was duped by his in-laws who married off his wife to another man. Elias Phiri made this revelation at the Harare Civil Court where his wife Petronella Alfonso had applied for a protection order against him. Petronella was accusing Elias of harassment and violence.

However, Elias hurled his own accusation blaming Petronella's parents of cashing in on his wife.  "She is lying that I harass her, the truth is that she and her parents tricked me. "She just left when she was seven months pregnant and went to stay with her parents. "I tried to get her to return home several times but she evaded me continually," he explained.

"When she gave birth I wasn't even informed. "I later discovered that she had gone off and married another man," lamented Elias. "I have never harassed her in any way," he asserted. However, Petronella insisted that Elias was a serial wife beater.

"He has harassed me for the better part of our marriage and that is why I denied him access to the child.

"He is very violent," she said. Magistrate Rebecca Tahwa who presided over the case granted the protection order in favour of Petronella.