News / Local
Man's maintenance celebrations short-lived
14 Dec 2013 at 06:39hrs | Views
THE celebrations by a Bulawayo man who recently won a maintenance case against his wife have been cut short as the woman has reportedly been retrenched.
Mark Heathcote successfully dragged his estranged wife Theressa to court and came out smiling when Bulawayo magistrate Victor Mpofu ordered her to pay him $400 per month as maintenance for their three minor children.
However, Heathcote could have run out of luck after his wife was retrenched even before making her first payment.
"Your worship I have since applied for the reversal of the court order since I was retrenched on November 26 and no longer have any means of income.
"Now that I am not working, there is no way I can be expected to pay $400 to this man. I am now unemployed and he will have to source other means so he takes care of the children as I have been doing this all along," said Theressa.
The husband could not stomach the bad news and requested the magistrate through his lawyer, Doreen Phulu to postpone the case to a later date so that investigations are carried out.
He also left the court in stitches when he said he needed evidence to ascertain his wife's retrenchment package so he could claim maintenance.
In his response, Mpofu ordered the couple to find ways of communicating to solve their differences that came up during the court proceedings.
"I will give Mark Heathcote and his lawyer time to get a formal letter from Theressa's company informing them about her retrenchment. This case has been postponed to a later date," ruled Mpofu.
Mark Heathcote successfully dragged his estranged wife Theressa to court and came out smiling when Bulawayo magistrate Victor Mpofu ordered her to pay him $400 per month as maintenance for their three minor children.
However, Heathcote could have run out of luck after his wife was retrenched even before making her first payment.
"Your worship I have since applied for the reversal of the court order since I was retrenched on November 26 and no longer have any means of income.
"Now that I am not working, there is no way I can be expected to pay $400 to this man. I am now unemployed and he will have to source other means so he takes care of the children as I have been doing this all along," said Theressa.
The husband could not stomach the bad news and requested the magistrate through his lawyer, Doreen Phulu to postpone the case to a later date so that investigations are carried out.
He also left the court in stitches when he said he needed evidence to ascertain his wife's retrenchment package so he could claim maintenance.
In his response, Mpofu ordered the couple to find ways of communicating to solve their differences that came up during the court proceedings.
"I will give Mark Heathcote and his lawyer time to get a formal letter from Theressa's company informing them about her retrenchment. This case has been postponed to a later date," ruled Mpofu.
Source - chronicle
