Bowen Chikomba says he was customarily married to Pertunia
Khanye and the two have teenage sons but their marriage hit turbulent times in
recent years.
When the union hit rock bottom, he moved out of the house
while they sought counselling from church elders in the hope of restoring their
marriage, he said.
And it was during his absence from the matrimonial home
that the alleged theft took place, Chikomba told B-Metro.
“When things started getting better in our marriage, I
moved back into our house while our teenage sons attended boarding school. I
got in touch with an estate agent who was selling a house that I liked so I
asked my wife to give me the US$20 000 that we had been saving so that we could
purchase the home.
“To my surprise she said she only had R10 000, which she
wanted to use to buy a fridge from South Africa and that’s when our marital
problems started again. She moved out of the house with my children to her
family home in Pumula at the time we were still fighting over the missing
money. I only learnt a few months later that she had relocated to the UK and
left my kids in the care of a friend,” Chikomba narrated his ordeal.
A police report under case number CR71/ 01/ 23 was opened
by Chikomba on a charge of theft. He has also slapped Khanye with a US$20 000
lawsuit.
His lawyers – Malinga and Mpofu Legal Practitioners – wrote
to Khanye demanding payment of the alleged stolen money.
“We are lawyers representing the aforementioned Bowen
Chikomba and we are advised that you were once customarily married to our
client from whom you admitted stealing a sum of US$20 000 before moving back to
your family.
“You then undertook to repay the said money but have since
become evasive. In view of your conduct, we have advised our client to lay
formal criminal charges against you through the police.
“On the other hand, we are instructed to demand, as we
hereby do that, you pay a sum of US$20 000 directly to our offices within five
(5) days of receiving this letter together with 10 percent thereof as
collection commission.
“Should you fail to pay as above, we shall approach the
courts to recover the money together with costs of a suit on a punitive scale,”
wrote the lawyers.
When contacted for comment via WhatsApp, Khanye replied
curtly: “I don’t respond to such nonsense.”
B Metro
0 comments:
Post a Comment