Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Fidelis Munyoro
11 July 2009
Harare — A ZBC engineer who infected his married subordinate with HIV during a long and torrid love affair - where they had trysts in an office at their workplace, a flat, lodge and in a car by the roadside - has been ordered to pay her husband US$2 000 in adultery damages.
The wife, described by the High Court judge who heard the case as a "weak woman of low morals", admitted the eight-year affair after finding that she had passed on the infection to her husband.
Timothy Chinyadza had claimed US$5 000 damages from Melton Phiri, an electronic engineer with the national broadcaster, but Justice Samuel Kudya reduced the amount to US$2 000.
In a judgment made available this week, Justice Kudya put the damages for contumelia (injured dignity) at US$1 500 while damages for loss of consortium (a spouse's companionship) were US$500.
It all started in 2000 when Chinyadza's student wife, Wendy Chinyadza (nee Hwata), was on attachment at ZBC before joining the corporation full time in 2003 on completion of her studies at Harare Polytechnic. She worked under Phiri until 2005 when she left to join the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.
In his testimony, Chinyadza said he left to work in South Africa in 2007 before his wife joined him later that year. He said when Wendy joined him, she was emaciated and sickly, and was diagnosed with tuberculosis and put on treatment but she did not respond. She was tested for HIV and found to be positive.
She confessed that she had contracted the virus from Phiri and she described in graphic detail the eight-year adulterous relationship. Chinyadza was subsquently tested both in Zimbabwe and South Africa and also found to be HIV positive.
He quit his job as he could not come to terms with his new status and at one stage contemplated suicide.
He told the court that he believed what his wife told him after he phoned a number recorded in his wife's diary under a woman's name and it was answered by Phiri, who confirmed in court that it was his.
As a result of this revelation, the couple separated. Chinyadza cited in his testimony the invasion of his privacy, and that his dignity and reputation had been ruined.
Chinyadza, who wept as he gave evidence, said he lost the "comfort, society and services" of his wife as a result of the adultery and sought damages from Phiri. In her testimony, Wendy gave a blow-by-blow account of her adulterous affair with Phiri since January 2000.
She said she had slept with Phiri at his flat from 2000 until he married her friend. Despite the fact that Phiri was married, Wendy said the two continued being intimate at a lodge along Herbert Chitepo Avenue and in room 40 at their workplace.
Wendy stunned the court when she related one incident in which they became intimate in the presence of Phiri's wife at his flat where the two women took turns to entertain him. At times they would become intimate in a car along Seke Road while Phiri was driving her home.
Wendy confirmed in court that she revealed to her husband the affair to make amends for the error of her ways. She said she further showed her contrition by giving her husband Phiri's e-mail addresses and cellphone number, which she had recorded in her diary under a false name.
Wendy was questioned on her testimony by Phiri who heaved a huge sigh before commencing the cross-examination. However, she maintained her evidence-in-chief and went further to describe Phiri's sexual anatomy in detail.
Wendy's evidence was corroborated by her friend, Memory James, who was her roommate at Harare Polytechnic. In his testimony, Phiri denied any knowledge of Wendy's marital status.
In his ruling, Justice Kudya noted that Phiri's denials sounded hollow for a man who worked with Chinyadza's wife for seven years. "He was her supervisor and took part in interviewing her for the job she landed after her training. "His denial painted him as an untruthful witness," said Justice Kudya.
The judge also noted that Phiri denied any knowledge of Wendy's marital status in an attempt to distance himself from the illicit affair he pursued with her. "He falsely denied that he was living positively with HIV virus in his pleadings and when he cross-examined the plaintiff (Chinyadza) and his wife. "I am satisfied from the evidence that was led that the defendant committed adultery over a seven-year period with plaintiff's wife.
"In the process he infected her with the HIV virus and she, in turn, infected the plaintiff," he said. Justice Kudya further noted in his judgment that Phiri had instigated the affair with Chinyadza's wife knowing that she was married.
Wendy's desire to pass her course drove her to ingratiate herself to Phiri, the judge said. After she passed, Justice Kudya said, Wendy used the relationship to obtain a job with Phiri's employer and thereafter continued the affair.
"It seems to me her conduct revealed her as a weak woman of low morals. Her character would be mitigatory to defendant," said Justice Kudya. The judge also noted that Phiri had more financial resources than Chinyadza and used his social and economic muscle to keep the "plaintiff's wife enthralled".
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