By Own Correspondent| A High Court judge Justice Aphas Chitakunye has expressed concern over the conduct of Pastor Ritiya of Ambassadors For Christ Ministries who solemnised the marriage between a Harare Central Hospital nurse Mavis Sibanda and Lesley Amos when the latter was still married to his UK based wife Dorothy Mtetwa.

The judge was surprised that Pastor Ritiya has gone on to solemnize the marriage despite the fact that Lesley’s wife Dorothy had objected to the wedding through her relatives who are based in Zimbabwe.

The story, which was run first on ZimEye, exposed how Amos, left his wife of 25 years in the UK only to wed his mistress after paying lobola, at an event witnessed by Mtetwa’s child.

Narrating the story to ZimEye, Mtetwa exposed how she had sought nullification of the marriage which was done behind her back to no avail at a ceremony where her relatives and friends were barred..

However, Amos responded giving his side of the story and said he had been misled by his sisters who said they had given his first wife a token of divorce since the duo had been customarily married.

In a dramatic development, the High Court nullified the duo’s wedding vows.

The court also ordered the pastor who officiated over the offending marriage to deregister it.

Justice Chitakunye warned marriage officers to take objections seriously and to seek proper legal guidance where they are not sure. 

Part of Justice Chitakunye’s ruling read:

Dorothy had not been given a divorce token and thus her marriage to Lesley was still valid when he wedded Mavis. As such the marriage of Lesley and Mavis is not valid as it was solemnized when he was still married to Dorothy in terms of the law.

…marriage must be taken seriously and when there are impediments or potential impediments it is astute to firstly attend to the impediments.

As this involves a change of status, it is imperative that marriage officers take objections seriously and obtain proper legal guidance before proceeding with solemnisation of the marriage…this should have guided the marriage officer not to ignore protestations from the applicant.