Man wins M50 000 adultery damages

MASERU – A man whose wife was in an adulterous affair with two men has won M50 000 from the philanderers as damages for wrecking his marriage.
Chief Magistrate ’Matankiso Nthunya last week ordered Mohale Letsie and Tati Makasane to each pay the complaining husband, Sempe Sempe, M25 000.
The three men and the woman, ’Mapaballo Sempe, are all residents of Rothe in the Maseru district but live in different villages.
Sempe and his wife come from Liqoabing while Letsie is a resident of Ha-Tjamela. The third lover, Makasane, is also from Liqoabing.

While delivering judgment, Chief Magistrate Nthunya said she heard Sempe’s prayers that he should be compensated after the two men slept with his wife.
Adultery is not a criminal offence in Lesotho. But an aggrieved spouse can sue for damages against a mistress or a philanderer.
Sempe approached the court complaining that the two men had undermined him and that he had suffered damages of comfort, loss of affection and service of his wife.
He asked the court to order to charge an interest of 20 percent from the date of judgment to the date of full payment.

In an affidavit to the court, Sempe said he has “suffered loss of consortium as well as infliction of contumelia due to the adultery made by Mohale Letsie on my wife”.
“I aver that on or about 23rd August 2020, at my own matrimonial home at Liqoabing, (Letsie) committed adultery with my aforesaid wife,” Sempe told the court.

“It is important to mention that (Letsie) has admitted to the commission of such adultery in December at the Mokhalinyane police station,” he said.
“I aver that consequent to the said adultery, the marriage relationship between me and my wife has irretrievably broken down.”
Sempe said to make matters worse, “my wife has resorted to deserting our matrimonial home”.
He said the affairs have brought his family’s reputation into disrepute “because the adultery has been committed at my own house, thus defiling my matrimonial home”.

“I cannot even walk around my own village without a feeling of disgrace,” he said.
Sempe described himself as “slowly dying of loneliness by reason of the said adultery”.
He said his wife bedded Letsie on August 23 last year. A week later, she slept with Makasane.

The adultery, Sempe complained, was witnessed by their son and his peers.
“It is important to mention that (Makasane) has admitted to the commission of such adultery before my parents at Liqoabing,” he said.
He said his family’s name has been brought into disrepute “because the acts of this nature can, as they have in this particular case, spread very quickly and widely”.
“The adultery was committed in my home village and even witnessed by our very own son, what a shame!” he said.
“This is in itself an aggravating factor to the injury to my feelings and dignity.”

Sempe said he had to hire a housemaid after his wife deserted the matrimonial home “in an attempt to make some recovery because as far as loss of mutual services is concerned”.
“I say some recovery because the truth be told, a hired servant cannot maintain the household in the best way that the owner of the house would do,” he said.
Sempe said the quantum of damages “is also intended to serve as a deterrent to the adulterous so as to maintain an honour accorded to a family as a cornerstone of our society”.

’Malimpho Majoro