Nurse Found Guilty Of Marrying Second Husband While Being Married To First Husband.

Nurse found guilty of marrying second husband while still being married to first spouse

KOTA KINABALU: A 29-year-old nurse, who took a second husband while still being married to her first spouse, was found guilty under native customary laws and was slapped with fines.

Her second husband, whose age and identity was not disclosed, was also found guilty of ``solod’’ or marrying the wife of another man in the first such case of polyandry heard by the Penampang Native Court earlier this week.

The woman and her second husband – who have a child from their liaison
-were slapped with a total of RM10, 500 in sogit (customary fines) for various offences under native customary laws by the panel of judges headed by Penampang Ketua Anak Negri Marcus Jonioh.

For taking a second husband or lapau (bigamy), the woman was fined RM1,500 (equivalent to one head of a livestock usually cattle) and further RM3,000 (two heads of livestock) for illicit sex or mianu-anu.

Her second husband was fined RM4,500 (three heads of a livestock) for solod. The court also imposed RM1,500 for costs.

In the unanimous decision, Jonioh said on Thursday they were also ordered not continue their relationship or face extra fines while the child from the illicit liaison should be left under the custody of the father until they settle the issue of divorces as the native court had no jurisdiction over divorce.

The native court gave them a month to settle the RM10, 500 fine or they will face imprisonment.

The native court had convened to hear the case after the first husband, whose identity was also not disclosed, lodged a complain that his wife, who he married at a church in Penampang in 2010, had complained that his wife had taken a second husband in July this year by registering it at Beluran Native Court after her transfer to Sandakan.

(The woman and her first husband did not have any children and it was not disclosed if the church wedding was registered under civil law though under native customary law they are considered married.)