Man to pay heavy fine for breach of marriage promise

A MARRIED Chitungwiza man who broke his girlfriend’s virginity and later reneged on his promise to marry her was last Monday ordered to pay $1 800 for seduction and breach of promise charge.

Chitungwiza magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa made the landmark ruling after she found Matthew Simango guilty of failing to honour his promise to marry the woman who could not be named to protect her dignity.

The jilted woman had initially asked for $5 000 damages, saying she had only consented to Simango’s sexual demands after he promised to fund her tertiary studies in addition to marrying her.

In his defence, Simango claimed: “I could not marry her since I discovered that she was not a virgin and we had only met once when I proposed to her. We later went to a lodge where we had sexual intercourse.”

However, the woman denied the claims saying she had passed her church’s virginity tests before her encounter with Simango.

In her ruling, Gofa said Simango’s evidence lacked consistency.

“When proving that you breached the promise to marry her claiming that she was not a virgin, I took into account all the evidence brought before the court.

“The applicant told this court that she was a virgin since she experienced some pain and that at her church they do some virginity tests.

“If you did not want to marry her, why would you go on to finance her during the time she did her course?” asked Ms Gofa.