aweso ally vs matumu saidi 1980 tzhc 6 15 december 1980

IN THE HIGH COURT OF TANZANIA AT PAR ES SALAAM (PC) MATRIMONIAL CIVIL APPEAL NO. 12 OF 1980 (From t h e d e c i s i o n o f t h e Prim ary Court o f Miono Bagamoyo D i s t r i c t ) AWESO ALLY ............ A p p e lla n t (O r ig in a l R espondent) V e r su s MATUMU SAIDI ............ R espon d en t (O rig in a l P e t it io n ) JUDGEMENT MAPIGANO, J . - The a p p e l l a n t AWESO ALLY i s t h e husband o f t h e r e s p o n d e n t MATUMU SAIDI, They c o n t r a c t e d t h e i r m a r r ia g e under cu stom ary law r i t e s about 24 y e a r s a g o . S ix c h ild r e n h a v e b e e n b o r n o u t o f the u n io n , On 9 / 1 / 8 0 th e r e s p o n d e n t came t o th e Prim ary C ourt at M io n o , Bagamoyo t o p e titio n fo r a d e c r e e o f d i s s o l u t io n o f th e m a rria ge. She s u c c e e d e d and t h e c o u r t p r o n o u n c e d the d i v o r c e on 4 / 2 / 8 0 . She had b a s e d th e p e t i t i o n on c r u e l t y and w i l f u l n e g l e c t . T h is i s an a p p e a l fro m t h a t d e c i s i o n . I t h i n k t h e r e was s u f f i c i e n t e v i d e n c e w h ich j u s t i f i e d the judgem ent o f th e lo w e r c o u r t . T h ere was e v i d e n c e from t h r e e w i t n e s s e s w h ich l e n t s u p p o r t t o the r e s p o n d e n t 's a sse rtio n s. I t was e s t a b l i s h e d t h a t on two o c c a s i o n s ; th e a p p e l l a n t had b ee n convicted by c o u r t f o r a s s a u lt in g the respondent p h y s ic a lly . I t was a l s o e s t a b l i s h e d t h a t she has been l i v i n g s e p a r a te ly , for th e la s t fou r y e a r s , la r g e l y in order to a v o i d t h e i l l - t r e a t m e n t he had b e e n s u b j e c t i n g h er t o . The a p p e l l a n t ' s answer t o h e r p e t i o n was a g e n e r a l d e n i a l and a p lea o f re s ju d ic a ta . H is memorandum o f a p p e a l r e p e a t s t h e sam e. But I am s a t i s f i e d t h a t t h e lo w e r c o u r t was e n t i t l e d t o a c c e p t and a c t upon t h e e v i d e n c e adduced by t h e r e s p o n d e n t and h e r t h r e e w i t n e s s e s . And w h i l e I f u l l y s u b c r i b e t o th e v i e w t h a t d i v o r c e i s n o t a m a t te r w h ich s h o u ld be t r e a t e d lig h tly , I am q u i t e s a t i s f i e d t h a t t h e r e i s no hope i n t h i s c a s e t h a t t h e p a r t i e s can p o s s i b l y p i c k up t h e p i e c e s and liv e to g e th e r a g a in . R es j u d i c a t a d o e s n o t a v a i l th e a p p e l l a n t . It i s tru e that t h e r e h a s b e e n a p r e v i o u s a c t i o n tetween the p a r t ie s b e f o r e t h e same c o u r t i n 1977* The a p p e l l a n t had b r o u g h t p r o c e e d in g t o c o m p e ll th e r e s p o n d e n t t o r e t u r n t o t h e m a t r i m o n i a l home. A f t e r h e a r i n g t h e p a r t i e s the c o u r t came t o t h e d e c i s i o n t h a t t h e m a r r ia g e b etw een them s h o u ld be d i s s o l v e d • • • • 2/ . - 2 - a fter an e l a p s e o f n i n t y d a y s , n o t w i t h s t a n d i n g th e f a c t t h a t t h e r e s p o n d e n t had n e i t h e r c r o s s - p r a y e d f o r d i v o r c e n o r s p e cifica lly ask ed f o r ii, In h er t e s t i m o n y . - On a p p e a l t o t h e D i s t r i c t C ourt o f Bagamoyo by th e a p p e l l a n t , t h a t d e c i s i o n was u p s e t . On a f u r t h e r a p p e a l t o t h i s c o u r t by th e respondent, i t was h e l d t h a t t h e D i s t r i c t C ourt was r i g h t i n s e t t i n g a s i d e t h e d e c r e e o f d i v o r c e . Most im p o r ta n tly , i t was a l s o h e l d t h a t t h e a c t i o n f i l e d b y t h e a p p e l l a n t i n th e Primary C ourt was m i s c o n c e i v e d and n o t m a i n t a i n a b l e , by v i r t u e o f s e c t i o n 140 o f t h e Law o f M a r r i a g e .Act, and, a cco rd in g ly , th e p r o c e e d i n g s were fo u n d and d e c l a r e d t o b e a n u l l i t y : DSM. (PC) C iv .A p p . N o. 3 1 /7 8 . In c o n s e q u e n c e , t h i s appeal i s d ism isse d w ith c o s t s .- DAR 23 SALAMI (D . P . MAPIGiSNO) 1 5 t h D ecem ber, 1900 JUDGE.