Rajabu Abdallah v. Azizi Mbusha (PC) Civ. App. 114-D-69, 4/4/70; Hamlyn J.

 

Rajabu Abdallah v. Azizi Mbusha (PC) Civ. App. 114-D-69, 4/4/70; Hamlyn J.

The respondent separated from her husband with whom she had got married according to Christian rites. She later changed from the Christian to the Moslem faith and got married to the appellant according to Islamic rites. She did not give birth to any children during this union but she later went back to her first husband and gave birth to children. The appellant sought to obtain custody of these children on the ground that he was the real husband of the respondent. The Primary Court allowed the claim but the District Court reversed the decision.

            Held: (1) “The claim of the appellant is based on his contention that he is the real husband of the woman AZIZA and it is because of this claim that he seeks to obtain custody of the children born after the woman had left him. His claim is of course based upon a complete misapprehension as to the legal position of the woman, who remained throughout the whole period the legal wife of Patrice. Neither her desertion of her husband, nor her change of religion, nor the fact that she cohabited with the appellant had any effect in altering this legal status nor at no time the woman anything more than the concubine of the appellant – despite the certificate which purports to testify as to a form of marriage between these two people.” (2) Appeal dismissed.