Man breaks HIV+ wife's ribs, dumps her, ordered to pay her $35 a month

• Published date: 04 July 2016
• Publication title: New Zimbabwe

A man who beat up and broke his wife's ribs before divorcing her, told a local civil court that he was 'not ashamed' to have left her because of her status.

Magistrate Yeukai Chigodora ordered Wayne Maraseni to pay his ex-wife, Pauline Simon, $35 every month for her upkeep after the tearful woman told court how her then husband broke her ribs leaving her unable to fend for herself.

Simon had initially demanded $100 maintenance but Chigodora made a downward variation to $35.

Simon shed tears in court as she narrated her ordeal in the hands of Maraseni.

'Your Worship, I was married for 18 years but my husband was very abusive. I once made a police report but I later dropped the charges because I thought he was going to reform.

'He broke my left side ribs and now I cannot work to sustain myself. What hurts me most is that he divorced me because I tested HIV positive. As my husband, I thought he was going to be supportive but surprisingly he divorced me,'...