Couple battles in court over emails

The Court of Appeal is set to determine a suit filed by a man who accuses his estranged wife of defaming him.

The senior bank manager has accused his wife of sending nasty emails about him to his work colleagues after their love went sour.

Albertus Sadie, a former Chief Finance Officer with EcoBank, told Court of Appeal judges Phillip Waki, Gatembu Kairu and Kathurima M’inoti, through lawyer Paul Amuga, that his wife Elsabe Virjoen was not protected by law, as she passed their personal tiffs to third parties.

The two were together until June 2015 when their marriage fell apart. The man filed a divorce case before the magistrate’s court. The court yesterday heard that Elsabel equally wanted to part ways but the lower courtdismissed it on account that it did not have powers to dissolve foreign marriages.

He appealed before High Court judge Farah Amin and now their case is awaiting judgement.

Sadie’s lawyer told the court yesterday that out of the emails, he was fired from the bank. “On July 20, 2015, the respondent wrote and published to two of the appellant’s fellow employees at EcoBank, but who were his seniors...The appellant has since been sacked because of this communication,” argued Amuga.

His lawyer said she had threatened to wash their dirty linen to his bosses, relatives and their children.

The man claimed his wife’s actions were actuated by malice and meant to cause maximum damage.

But Elsabel denied the allegations. The law, she argued, shields a spouse from defamation in the event he or she publishes or even speaks defamatory words against the partner.

She argued that since the marriage had not been dissolved, she still enjoyed immunity from being sued in the event she uttered words that injured her husband’s reputation. “...under common law, which is applicable in Kenya, a wife cannot be held liable to libel against her husband during coverture, and in the same vein, communication between spouses is privileged and protected by law,” she said. The court will give its judgement on December 20.